>Keeping tabs on the finances of the US government is not particularly riveting, but as a US taxpayer, staying informed on where our money (and country’s finances) is going is a way to hold the decision makers, like Congress, accountable. I wrote about this quite a lot in 2023 (here, here and here), when Congress kept debating about the debt ceiling, and it’s time to check back in.

No matter their fate, tariffs were making the story of the US deficit look a little better. 

Through the first months of Fiscal Year 2026 (since October 2025):

• Revenues are up 11% year over year, driven largely by a surge in customs duties from higher tariffs 
• Outlays (spending) totaled $3 trillion, up 2% year-over-year
• Interest payments reached $426 billion, up 8.7% year-over-year