April produces first monthly surplus in nearly four years (Deficit grows at slower pace)

The Hill ^ | 05/08/2012 | By Vicki Needham

[SeekAndFind]

The federal government ran its first surplus in nearly four years last month, while the deficit grew at a slower pace through the first seven months of the fiscal year.

The $58 billion surplus in April is compared to a $40 billion deficit reported for the same month last year, a nearly $100 billion turnaround, the Congressional Budget Office reported on Monday.

Overall, through budget deficit came in at $721 billion for the fiscal year beginning Oct. 1, $149 billion less than $870 billion recorded during the same period a year ago, CBO said.

It is the first time since the financial collapse in 2008 that the government recorded a surplus.

Higher revenue and lower spending, along with shifts in certain payments, contributed to the improvement, the report said.

Receipts in April were $30 billion higher, or 10 percent, than revenue a year ago, CBO estimates.

For the fiscal year so far, receipts were $74 billion, or 6 percent, higher than the same period last year. However, they were about $20 billion below what CBO had estimated in its most recent budget projections in March.

The largest boost to receipts came from a $14 billion decline in the amount of tax refunds issued.

Refunds were lower, in large part, because some refunds that would have ordinarily been recorded in April were made in prior months.

Withheld income and payroll taxes rose by $10 billion, or 7 percent, while non-withheld receipts from those sources, largely from filings of tax returns for tax year 2011, were up by just $2 billion.

In addition, corporate income tax receipts were $3 billion higher than a year ago.

Spending was $69 billion lower last month as defense spending fell by $4 billion, by $2 billion for Medicaid and by $1 billion each for education, family assistance, the U.S. Postal Service and unemployment compensation.

By contrast, spending on Social Security benefits grew by $4 billion.

[SeekAndFind]

ALSO FROM REUTERS:

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/05/07/us-usa-budget-cbo-idUSBRE84615I20120507

U.S. heading toward April budget surplus: CBO

EXCERPT:

The United States will post a budget surplus for April, the first month it will have done so since the 2007-2009 financial crisis, the Congressional Budget Office forecast on Monday.

“The Treasury realized a surplus of $58 billion in April 2012, CBO estimates, in contrast with the $40 billion deficit reported for the same month last year,” the nonpartisan agency said in a statement.

The Treasury Department is scheduled to publish the official April budget statement on Thursday afternoon.

A Treasury spokesman said there has not been a monthly surplus since September 2008 when the economy was struggling in a severe downturn during the financial crisis.

A one-month surplus would not signal a turnaround in U.S. indebtedness. CBO forecast in January that the United States was headed for a fourth straight year of deficits that top $1 trillion during the current fiscal year that ends September 30.

Analysts surveyed by Reuters have forecast a smaller $30-billion surplus for April.

CLICK ABOVE LINK FOR THE REST

[Sacajaweau]

Absolutely impossible when your debt is in the trillions.

[SeekAndFind]

This is how the liberal Huffington Post reports it in its headline:

President Obama Sees First Budget Surplus Of Presidency

SEE HERE:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/08/president-obama-budget-surplus_n_1499266.html

Of course they want to make it look like it was all due to the efforts and policies of the One...

[drbuzzard]

That’s some gall given that the O can’t come up with a budget that Dems will vote for much less the GOP.

[the_daug]

Guess is that 2010 election has an effect.

[treetopsandroofs]

Win-Win for Big Media, which, if a Republican is elected, can promptly report (again) that he squandered the previous president’s “surplus”.

[SeekAndFind]

RE: Guess is that 2010 election has an effect.

PRECISELY. People forget that it is CONGRESS who holds the purse strings.

In every single budget battle from January 2011 to now, it is CONGRESS ( the one who got elected in 2010 via a HUGE landslide ) that was PREVENTING Obama and the Dems from spending more than the government took in.

It was Congress that really presented a budget that the Democratic Senate refused to pass ( and they refused to even give their own budget ), resulting in temporary continuing resolutions to fund the government.

It was CONGRESS that STOPPED Obama from implementing his proposed budget busting budget ( heck not even one of his Democratic legislators voted for it ).

I don’t know how we can credit Obama for this surplus at all.

[G Larry]

Surplus my butt!

Somebody check the math please!

[stylin19a]

(psssst...don’t tell anybody...April generally is always a surplus month because of 4/15/xxxx)

[Cicero]

Guess what. TAX DAY is in the middle of April. So there is almost always a large surplus.

The fact that there was a deficit last year, even in April, tells us how far Obama has gotten us into the hole.

Not all taxes are paid in April. There are quarterly estimated tax payements (including April), and monthly plundering of salaries. But April is still the biggest month for tax payments.

[Lets Roll NOW]

So if there was a surplus the debt went down right? No it did not. The fuzzy math brigade in Congress strikes again. They can continue to lie but we don’t have to believe it anymore.

[DuncanWaring]

If there was a monthly surplus, why did the national debt increase $110 billion from the last business day of March to the last business day of April?

From the Bureau of the Public Debt:

Date	Debt Held by the Public	Intragovernmental Holdings	Total Public Debt Outstanding
03/30/2012	10,846,824,546,943.15	4,735,254,134,245.54	15,582,078,681,188.69
04/02/2012	10,883,217,233,063.87	4,737,108,765,340.09	15,620,325,998,403.96
04/03/2012	10,885,892,840,514.66	4,730,953,734,424.54	15,616,846,574,939.20
04/04/2012	10,886,893,993,272.96	4,730,828,550,805.99	15,617,722,544,078.95
04/05/2012	10,884,566,084,027.55	4,735,174,086,380.79	15,619,740,170,408.34
04/06/2012	10,884,645,947,631.29	4,733,994,331,951.64	15,618,640,279,582.93
04/09/2012	10,884,773,109,942.45	4,736,672,624,190.38	15,621,445,734,132.83
04/10/2012	10,885,339,078,286.01	4,741,493,518,408.95	15,626,832,596,694.96
04/11/2012	10,886,106,101,181.97	4,731,981,942,323.66	15,618,088,043,505.63
04/12/2012	10,880,527,647,709.21	4,734,467,120,134.11	15,614,994,767,843.32
04/13/2012	10,880,890,738,953.68	4,734,835,298,368.98	15,615,726,037,322.66
04/16/2012	10,903,326,597,003.36	4,751,311,928,394.28	15,654,638,525,397.64
04/17/2012	10,903,987,805,036.21	4,757,586,427,562.61	15,661,574,232,598.82
04/18/2012	10,905,376,996,162.03	4,755,359,667,725.93	15,660,736,663,887.96
04/19/2012	10,857,988,065,192.96	4,757,602,909,829.41	15,615,590,975,022.37
04/20/2012	10,858,146,916,544.62	4,759,211,613,825.31	15,617,358,530,369.93
04/23/2012	10,858,204,873,838.22	4,761,969,175,722.01	15,620,174,049,560.23
04/24/2012	10,859,176,801,419.86	4,769,089,697,288.18	15,628,266,498,708.04
04/25/2012	10,860,722,926,433.74	4,762,562,602,020.67	15,623,285,528,454.41
04/26/2012	10,859,267,672,675.69	4,765,079,937,801.18	15,624,347,610,476.87
04/27/2012	10,859,635,596,261.41	4,764,061,611,155.98	15,623,697,207,417.39
04/30/2012	10,916,070,898,102.68	4,776,297,169,202.55	15,692,368,067,305.23

[BlueMondaySkipper]

If there was a monthly surplus, why did the national debt increase $110 billion from the last business day of March to the last business day of April?

Very simple: When you lie, anything is possible.

[backwoods-engineer]

April produces first monthly surplus in nearly four years (Deficit grows at slower pace)

C'mon, y'all don't believe this, do ya?

This is the same organization that said Obamacare would REDUCE the deficit.

This is a bald-faced lie, made up wholly of accounting trickery, designed to get the Statist in Chief re-elected.