Take a look at the December Monthly Treasury Statement. It tallies how much money the government collects and spends each month. Comparing a single month from the current fiscal year, which started in October 2011, to the previous fiscal year, can be complicated. A payment of taxes or benefits and wages on the last day of the month one year and on the first day of the month the next year can make for volatile year-to-year comparisons. But as the fiscal year goes on, these wrinkles tend to be smoothed out.
So, in the first three months of fiscal 2012 — October, November, and December — revenues were $555.4 billion, up 4.3 percent from $532 billion in the first three months of fiscal 2011. Spending in the first three months of fiscal 2012 has come in at $877 billion, down from $901 billion in the first three months of fiscal 2011, down 3.3 percent. Add it up, and the deficit so far this fiscal year is running at $321 billion, compared with $369 billion for the first three months of fiscal 2011. That's a decrease of 13 percent.
