U.S. June budget deficit falls to $174 billion

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. government posted a June deficit of $174 billion, about a fifth of the June 2020 deficit of $864 billion, as a rebound in the labor market and an earlier tax deadline this year raised revenues, the U.S. Treasury said on Tuesday.

Receipts for June jumped 87% to $449 billion, in part a reflection of this year’s Internal Revenue Service income tax filing deadline being brought forward to May 17 compared to last year’s pandemic-induced delay to July 15.

The Treasury also said taxes withheld from wages increased by 33%, on an adjusted basis, to $240 billion during June compared to a year ago, while June corporate taxes rose to $79 billion from $11 billion last year.

Outlays for June dropped 44% from a year earlier to $623 billion, largely due to the outsized impact on the deficit a year earlier from the implementation of the Paycheck Protection Program, a subsidy to keep businesses afloat during the COVID-19 pandemic.

This reduction in costs helped lower the fiscal year-to-date deficit to $2.238 trillion from $2.744 trillion for the first nine months of the prior fiscal year, Treasury officials said.

Year-to-date receipts rose 35% from a year earlier to $3.056 trillion, while outlays grew 6% to $5.294 trillion.

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