Gold 
“The U.S. budget deficit topped $1.8 trillion in the latest fiscal year, driven by higher spending on interest and programs for older Americans, as the government faces a persistent gap between federal outlays and tax collections.
The new data comes as Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump and Democratic pick Kamala Harris are both proposing new tax and spending plans that are estimated to add trillions more to the deficit over the next decade.
Whoever wins the election will face immediate decisions next year about agencies’ spending levels, the federal debt limit and expiring tax cuts. That debate will be pulled one way by a future filled with projections of red ink and pulled the other by Americans who enjoy federal benefits and lower taxes.
In all, the government collected $4.92 trillion in revenue and spent $6.75 trillion, putting the deficit at $1.83 trillion for the year that ended Sept. 30, according to the Congressional Budget Office, which issued its estimates ahead of the official administration tallies expected later this month.
The deficit in 2023 was officially $1.7 trillion, but it was actually larger than that. That is because the government recorded more than $300 billion in spending for student-debt cancellation in 2022 and recorded a similar-size spending cut in 2023 when the Supreme Court blocked President Biden’s program.
After making that adjustment, the deficit was slightly smaller in 2024 than in 2023. Overall, the deficit was 4% smaller than CBO had projected in June.
The largest federal entitlement programs—Social Security and Medicare—cost 6% more than they did in fiscal 2023, or even more when adjusting for the timing of some payments, according to CBO. The U.S. spent $950 billion on interest, up 34% from the prior year, mostly because of higher interest rates. Interest costs surpassed military spending.
Revenue climbed 11%, driven in part by taxes that were pushed from fiscal 2023 to 2024 because of disasters in California and by the Internal Revenue Service pausing payments of the employee retention tax credit, a troubled pandemic-era program.”
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