U.S. budget deficit running over 40 percent higher than last year. Federal spending up 10%.

The federal budget deficit in December totaled $13.5 billion, helping to push the deficit for the first three months of this budget year up 41.8 percent from the same period the previous year.

The Treasury Department said Wednesday that the budget deficit from October through December totals $318.9 billion, up from a deficit of $225 billion for the same three months in the previous year.

So far this budget year, tax revenue is up a tiny 0.2 percent, reflecting the impacts of the tax cuts passed in 2017. Spending is up 9.6 percent.

Total government receipts were $771.2 billion for the first three months of this budget year, a gain of 0.2 percent. Outlays totaled $1.09 trillion, up 9.6 percent from the first three months of the 2018 budget year.

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