October 8, 2026
Washington, D.C. — The federal government ended fiscal year 2026 with an estimated $2 trillion deficit, $218 billion more than the previous year, according to the Congressional Budget Office’s latest Monthly Budget Review, released today. Spending grew twice as fast as revenue, and net interest costs reached $1.14 trillion. Corporate income tax receipts fell 16 percent, reflecting larger deductions under the 2025 reconciliation law, while customs revenue declined as the administration refunded approximately $130 billion in tariffs following the Supreme Court’s ruling.
Steve Ellis, president of Taxpayers for Common Sense, issued the following statement:
“The fiscal news is bad, and entirely predictable. Congress and the administration chose to make an already unsustainable budget worse, then promised taxpayers the numbers would somehow work out. CBO’s report shows the consequences of those choices.
“The supposed revenue windfall from illegal tariffs proved illusory, with billions collected now being refunded. Congress compounded the problem by passing massive tax cuts in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act without paying for them. The law’s corporate tax breaks are showing up in substantially lower corporate tax revenue, which means more borrowing to cover the bills. Adding insult to taxpayer injury, lawmakers cut IRS funding, costing more in lost tax collections than the cuts save.
“That borrowing adds to a debt whose annual interest costs now exceed $1 trillion. Decades of fiscal irresponsibility got us here, and this Congress chose to make the problem substantially worse. Lawmakers knew the country could not afford the commitments it had already made. They chose to add trillions more to the tab anyway.”
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