The Treasury Department said Monday that the deficit was 17% higher than fiscal year of 2017 and greater than any year since 2012, when it topped 1 trillion USD. The budget downswing amounts to 3.9 percent of the US GDP. The deficit worsened because tax revenues have not been keeping pace with government spending. Tax revenues were essentially flat in the fiscal year of 2018, while spending increased 3.2 percent as Congress alotted more funds to military and domestic programs.

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has warned that growing budget deficits would balloon US public debt sharply over the next 30 years if current laws remain largely  unchanged. The public debt could approach 100 percent of US GDP by the end of the next decade and 152 percent by 2048, reaching the highest level in the US history, according to the CBO.