US government ran a $14B deficit in December
The U.S. federal government posted a $14 billion deficit in December, a decline of about $10 billion compared to the year-ago period, according to Treasury Department data released on Wednesday.
Revenue for the month sank as a result of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which slashed taxes both for individuals and corporations. Since the fiscal year began in October, the government has racked up about a $319 billion deficit, compared to $225 billion in the previous fiscal year.
Interest payments on the public debt also increased by about 16 percent.
Spending, meanwhile, also declined to $326 billion, a 7 percent drop from the same time last year, as outlays fell for the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
The data was released about a month late as a result of the 35-day partial government shutdown that began at the tailend of December.
The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget (CRFB) has previously warned that the U.S. deficit -- which is already at a six-year high -- could climb as high as $1 trillion by the end of 2019.
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The nonpartisan public policy organization also warned that an economic boost seen throughout 2018 is likely to weaken. It projected that the economy will grow by 3 percent in the entirety of 2018 and 2.8 percent in 2019, before cooling to somewhere between 1.6 and 1.9 percent per year for the remainder of the decade.