U.S. Posts Smallest March Federal Budget Deficit Since 2000

The U.S. posted its smallest March budget deficit in 14 years as an improving labor market boosted tax receipts and federal government spending declined from a year earlier.

Spending exceeded revenue by $36.9 billion last month, compared with a $106.5 billion deficit in March 2013, the Treasury Department said today in Washington. The median estimate in a Bloomberg survey of 18 economists called for a $36 billion shortfall.