Updated: 11-Mar-26 14:38 ET
Highlights
- The Treasury reported a $307.5 billion deficit for February (Briefing.com consensus -$170.0 bln), which was much wider than expected and it was a bit wider than the $307.0 billion deficit reported for February 2025.
- Receipts totaled $313.1 billion, while outlays reached $620.6 billion.
- Social Insurance & Retirement Receipts ($144 billion) were the largest source of receipts in February followed by Individual Income Taxes ($133 billion). Corporate income taxes brought in just $3 billion while customs duties brought in $27 billion, bringing the fiscal year-to-date total to $145 billion.
- The largest outlays by function were Social Security ($138 billion), Income Security ($104 billion), Health ($81 billion), and Net Interest ($79 billion).
- The fiscal year-to-date deficit is $1.004 trillion versus $1.147 trillion in the same period a year ago.
- The budget deficit over the last 12 months in $1.633 trillion versus $1.633 trillion in January.
- The key takeaway from the report is that while the February deficit was much larger than expected, the year-to-date deficit is nearly $150 billion smaller than it was at this time last year, reflecting some overall fiscal improvement, entirely due to tariffs.
| Category | FEB | JAN | DEC | NOV | OCT |
| Deficit (-)/Surplus | -$307.5B | -$94.6B | -$144.7B | -$173.3B | -$284.4B |
| Deficit (-)/Surplus Fiscal YTD | -$1004.5B | -$697.0B | -$602.3B | -$457.7B | -$284.4B |
| Deficit (-)/Surplus over last 12 months | -$1633.2B | -$1632.8B | -$1666.8B | -$1609.0B | -$1802.3B |
