Fiscal 2018 Deficit by Month

The graph below charts the monthly budget deficit or surplus of the U.S. government for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2018. The cumulative deficit for Fiscal 2018 was $782 billion, which was slightly less than initially projected.

Because of the timing for month-end payments, approximately $55 billion of expenditures that normally would have been paid in September, were paid in August. This timing difference caused the August deficit and September surplus to be much larger than normal.

As depicted in the graph, the government spent more than it receives nine months out of the year. The surpluses in January, April and September correspond with the timing of when estimated tax payments are due. However, the excess in these three months was not large enough to pay for the other nine months of overspending.

What do you think of a budget that overspends nine out of twelves months?