April (tax receipt month) Budget Surplus Lowers Fiscal Year-to-Date Deficit To $1.049 Trillion

From Reuters, May 12:

US budget surplus surges to $258 billion in April, year-to-date deficit tops $1 trillion 

• April surplus reflects end of-season tax receipts, jump in import duties
• Tariff revenue expected to drop after US-China trade deal
• Fiscal year outlays up due to Social Security, Medicare, Treasury debt payments

The U.S. government posted a $258 billion budget surplus for April, up 23%, or about $49 billion, from a year earlier, reflecting strong tax receipts in the final month of the tax season and record collections of import duties, the Treasury Department said on Monday.

 

Treasury reported that customs duties in April totaled $16 billion, about a $9 billion increase from the year-earlier period and far eclipsing the previous record of $9.6 billion two years earlier. The jump occurred during a month in which President Donald Trump boosted tariffs on Chinese goods to as much as 145% while slapping at least 10% levies on imports of goods from other countries.

The budget results indicate the U.S. collected just over $500 million a day from tariffs in April. Trump last month said the collections were about $2 billion a day.

 

For the first seven months of the fiscal year, net customs duties totaled $63 billion, compared with $48 billion in the same period a year earlier.

 

That new revenue, however, is likely to drop off. The U.S. and China over the weekend reached a deal to temporarily ease their steep tariffs on each other, with the U.S. cutting its 145% duties to 30% for the next 90 days, while Chinese levies on U.S. imports will fall to 10% from 125%.

Receipts last month were driven by a 16% increase in individual non-withheld tax payments, which totaled $460 billion. Individual refunds also rose 16% to $86 billion, detracting from net total budget receipts of $850 billion for the month.

 

Treasury reported a $1.049 trillion budget deficit for the first seven months of fiscal 2025, which started Oct. 1, up 23%, or $194 billion, from a year earlier. Fiscal year-to-date receipts of $3.110 trillion and outlays of $4.159 trillion were both records for the year through April, though the deficit itself was not, a Treasury official said.

 

After accounting for calendar differences that exaggerated outlays recorded in 2024 and $85 billion in deferred tax receipts from California that had boosted fiscal-year 2024 receipts, the deficit would have been 4% higher, according to the official....

....MORE 

 

Here's the Monthly Treasury Statement (MTS)

 

And the Interest Expense and Average Interest Rates on the National Debt FY 2010 – FYTD 2025 which highlights the essence of the problem:

FYTD 2025 Interest Expense $684 B Avg. Interest Rate 3.289%

Borrowing $100 billion per month to pay your interest expense is, to coin a phrase, not sustainable.