Budget Deficit in U.S. Narrows After Payroll Taxes Rise
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The U.S. budget deficit narrowed 12 percent last month from a year earlier as Congress and President Barack Obama allowed payroll taxes to increase and individual refunds fell.
Outlays exceeded receipts by $203.5 billion, compared with a $231.7 billion deficit in February 2012, according to Treasury Department data issued today in Washington. Economists projected a $205 billion shortfall, according to the median estimate in a Bloomberg survey.