Ever wondered where the $4.44 trillion the U.S. government collected last year came from, or how every dollar was spent and borrowed?
Key Takeaways
- In fiscal year 2023, U.S. federal government total receipts were $4.44 trillion
- Federal individual income tax receipts in FY 2023 amounted to $2.18 trillion
- Payroll taxes (social insurance) collected $1.61 trillion in FY 2023
- FY 2023 total outlays were $6.13 trillion
- Mandatory spending in FY 2023: $3.8 trillion (62% of total)
- Discretionary spending FY 2023: $1.7 trillion (28%)
- U.S. public debt held by the public reached $26.3 trillion at end of FY 2023
- Intragovernmental holdings of debt: $7.0 trillion as of Sep 2023
- Total gross federal debt: $33.2 trillion end FY 2023
- Federal budget deficit FY 2023: $1.70 trillion
- Deficit as % of GDP FY 2023: 6.3%
- Primary deficit FY 2023 (excl interest): $1.04 trillion
- State and local government total revenue 2022: $3.1 trillion
- State own-source revenue 2022: $1.8 trillion
- Local own-source revenue 2022: $1.9 trillion
Individual income and payroll taxes fund most government spending amid rising deficits.
Budget Deficits
- Federal budget deficit FY 2023: $1.70 trillion
- Deficit as % of GDP FY 2023: 6.3%
- Primary deficit FY 2023 (excl interest): $1.04 trillion
- Cumulative deficits FY 2021-2023: $5.0 trillion
- CBO baseline deficit projection FY 2024: $1.6 trillion
- FY 2023 unified budget surplus/deficit reconciliation: -$1.695T
- Off-budget deficit FY 2023: -$152 billion (Social Security)
- On-budget deficit FY 2023: -$1.54 trillion
- Structural deficit estimate 2023: 3.9% GDP
- Cyclical component of deficit 2023: ~2.4% GDP
- FY 2023 monthly deficit peak Oct: $352 billion
- Cash basis deficit FY 2023: $2.0 trillion approx
- Deficit financed by borrowing: $2.1 trillion gross
- Historical avg deficit 1970-2023: 3.7% GDP
- Post-WWII avg surplus/deficit: 0.1% GDP surplus
- Bipartisan Policy Center deficit tracker Sep 2023: $1.7T
- Adjusted deficit excl COVID relief FY 2023: $1.4T
- Interest share of deficit growth 2023: 18%
- Revenue shortfall contrib to deficit FY23: 9%
- Spending overrun contrib FY23: 91%
Budget Deficits Interpretation
The numbers paint a picture of a government that's running a rather enthusiastic tab, as even after stripping away the temporary sugar high of the pandemic and a humming economy, our core spending habits are essentially on a $1.4 trillion annual bender funded by the national credit card.
Federal Debt
- U.S. public debt held by the public reached $26.3 trillion at end of FY 2023
- Intragovernmental holdings of debt: $7.0 trillion as of Sep 2023
- Total gross federal debt: $33.2 trillion end FY 2023
- Debt held by public as % GDP: 98% in 2023
- Interest cost on public debt: $875 billion projected FY 2024, but FY23 $659B
- Foreign holders of U.S. debt: $7.6 trillion (Japan $1.1T, China $0.8T) Sep 2023
- Federal Reserve holdings of Treasury securities: $4.9 trillion Sep 2023
- Mutual funds hold $3.6 trillion in Treasuries Sep 2023
- State and local govts hold $1.2 trillion Treasuries Sep 2023
- U.S. individuals hold $1.8 trillion in Treasuries Sep 2023
- Pension funds hold $1.0 trillion Treasuries Sep 2023
- Banks hold $3.2 trillion Treasuries Sep 2023
- Insurance companies hold $0.6 trillion Sep 2023
- Debt limit was raised to $31.4 trillion in Dec 2021, breached Jan 2023
- Average interest rate on marketable debt: 2.5% end FY 2023
- 10-year Treasury yield averaged 3.96% in 2023
- Maturity structure: 30% debt matures within 1 year Sep 2023
- T-bills outstanding: $5.9 trillion Sep 2023
- T-notes outstanding: $15.5 trillion Sep 2023
- T-bonds outstanding: $4.8 trillion Sep 2023
- Inflation-protected securities: $0.5 trillion
- FRNs outstanding: $0.2 trillion Sep 2023
- SLGS outstanding: $0.2 trillion
- Total debt growth FY 2023: +$2.0 trillion
- Projected debt to GDP 2033: 122%
Federal Debt Interpretation
The United States is living on an expensive, globe-spanning credit card, where the annual interest is now a gargantuan line item, its own citizens and the world are major lenders, and nearly a third of this mountain of bills comes due every year just to be refinanced at higher rates, painting a picture of a fiscal future where our national budget is increasingly just a pass-through to our creditors.
Federal Expenditures
- FY 2023 total outlays were $6.13 trillion
- Mandatory spending in FY 2023: $3.8 trillion (62% of total)
- Discretionary spending FY 2023: $1.7 trillion (28%)
- Net interest on debt FY 2023: $659 billion (11%)
- Social Security outlays FY 2023: $1.35 trillion
- Medicare spending FY 2023: $839 billion
- Medicaid outlays FY 2023: $616 billion federal share
- Defense discretionary spending FY 2023: $816 billion
- Nondefense discretionary FY 2023: $910 billion
- Veterans benefits FY 2023: $301 billion
- Income security programs FY 2023: $775 billion
- Federal employee retirement benefits FY 2023: $162 billion
- Unemployment compensation FY 2023: $32 billion
- Housing assistance FY 2023: $62 billion
- Food and nutrition assistance FY 2023: $182 billion (SNAP etc.)
- Education spending FY 2023: $79 billion discretionary
- Transportation outlays FY 2023: $109 billion
- Community and regional development FY 2023: $54 billion
- Federal science and research FY 2023: $180 billion
- Environmental protection FY 2023: $10 billion
- International affairs FY 2023: $60 billion
- General government FY 2023: $30 billion
- Agriculture subsidies FY 2023: $28 billion
- Energy outlays FY 2023: $15 billion
- Justice administration FY 2023: $38 billion
- Total federal outlays as % of GDP FY 2023: 23.6%
- Health spending federal share 2023: 28% of national total $1.4 trillion federal
Federal Expenditures Interpretation
Our national checkbook reveals a fiscal portrait where the promises of the past, personified by Social Security and Medicare, claim the lion's share of our commitments, while the nation's future investments in science and education must patiently queue behind them and a growing interest bill that is now our fastest-growing line item.
Federal Revenue
- In fiscal year 2023, U.S. federal government total receipts were $4.44 trillion
- Federal individual income tax receipts in FY 2023 amounted to $2.18 trillion
- Payroll taxes (social insurance) collected $1.61 trillion in FY 2023
- Corporate income taxes generated $420 billion in FY 2023
- Excise taxes brought in $87 billion in FY 2023
- Estate and gift taxes totaled $34 billion in FY 2023
- Customs duties collected $80 billion in FY 2023
- Federal Reserve earnings remitted $116 billion to Treasury in FY 2023
- Miscellaneous receipts were $149 billion in FY 2023
- In FY 2022, individual income taxes were 50.4% of total federal revenue
- Payroll taxes constituted 36.2% of FY 2023 federal receipts
- Corporate taxes were 9.4% of total receipts in FY 2023
- U.S. federal tax revenue as % of GDP was 17.0% in 2023
- Effective federal tax rate for top 1% earners was 25.9% in 2020
- Total federal receipts grew 11% from FY 2022 to FY 2023
- Individual income tax refunds totaled $659 billion in FY 2023
- Federal revenue from capital gains taxes was $307 billion in 2022
- FY 2023 federal receipts from unemployment insurance taxes: $48 billion
- Railroad retirement taxes: $6 billion in FY 2023
- Federal highway trust fund receipts: $52 billion in FY 2023
- Airport and airway trust fund: $15 billion in FY 2023
- Inland waterway trust fund receipts: $0.2 billion in FY 2023
- Federal revenue from oil and gas leases: $12 billion in FY 2023
- Timber sales receipts: $0.1 billion in FY 2023
- Spectrum auction proceeds: $85 billion cumulative since 1994, latest FY 2023 $0
- Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Trust Fund: $1 billion in FY 2023
- U.S. Treasury securities held by public as % of revenue: varies, but interest payments covered by revenue portion
Federal Revenue Interpretation
The federal budget is a towering edifice built predominantly on the taxed sweat of individual brows, with corporate titans and sundry other levies serving as its substantial, yet secondary, fiscal buttresses.
State Local Finance
- State and local government total revenue 2022: $3.1 trillion
- State own-source revenue 2022: $1.8 trillion
- Local own-source revenue 2022: $1.9 trillion
- Federal aid to states 2022: $1.0 trillion (32% of state revenue)
- State individual income taxes 2022: $570 billion
- State sales taxes 2022: $480 billion
- Property taxes (mostly local) 2022: $650 billion
- State corporate taxes 2022: $100 billion
- Local general expenditures 2022: $2.0 trillion
- State general expenditures 2022: $2.1 trillion
- Elementary/secondary education spending state/local 2022: $870 billion
- Public welfare spending state/local 2022: $650 billion
- Highways state/local 2022: $170 billion
- Police protection 2022: $140 billion local mostly
- Fire protection 2022: $50 billion
- Hospitals state/local 2022: $130 billion
- Utilities local 2022: $220 billion
- State pension liabilities unfunded 2022: $1.4 trillion
- Local pension unfunded 2022: $0.6 trillion
- State debt outstanding 2022: $1.2 trillion
- Local debt 2022: $1.9 trillion
- State budget surplus/deficit avg 2022: +$100 billion collective
- Property tax as % local revenue: 30% avg 2022
State Local Finance Interpretation
America's state and local governments are a $3.1 trillion enterprise, a surprisingly self-funded juggling act of taxes and services, where the real trick is keeping all the revenue balls in the air while the looming pension and debt anvils wait patiently overhead.
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