US Government Records Higher-Than-Expected Budget Deficit to Kick Off Fiscal Year 2024

Delayed tax payments from California and other states prevent larger October budget deficit.

The National Debt Clock is shown at a bus stop in Washington on July 31, 2023. Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times

The U.S. government posted a higher-than-expected $67 billion budget deficit in the first month of the new fiscal year, the smallest October shortfall since 2017, according to new data from the Treasury Department.

Last month, the budget deficit tumbled by almost 24 percent from a year ago, when it came in at $88 billion.