evidence: The 2023 Deficit Is Projected To Total $1.5 Trillion. Here's Why It Could Be Even Higher Due to a structural imbalance between revenues and spending, the federal government continues to run large and growing budget deficits. For 2023, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimated in May that the federal budget deficit will total $1.5 trillion — about $160 billion larger than in 2022. The increase in the deficit this year is mainly driven by higher interest costs, continued growth in spending on Social Security and Medicare, and lower individual income tax receipts. However, this year’s deficit may turn out to be even larger because individual income tax revenues in April were lower than CBO expected, but not accounted for in their latest projections. [...] The deficit of $1.4 trillion for 2022 included $379 billion related to the student loan forgiveness announced by the Biden Administration in August 2022. That plan, if implemented (it is currently under review at the Supreme Court), would reduce collections of principal and interest payments from borrowers in the future; the cost recorded last year represents the estimated present value of the total reduction in future collections of loan payments.