United States yearbook - 1982 (1)

Section 9
Federal
Government Finances
and Employment
This section presents statistics relating to the financial structure and the civilian employment of
the Federal Government, The fiscal data cover taxes, other receipts, outlays, and debt. The principal
sources of fiscal data are The Budget o f the United States Government and related documents,
published annually by the O ffice o f Management and Budget (0 MB), and the Department o f the
Treasury’s annual Treasury Com bined Statement o f Receipts, Expenditures, and Balances o f the
U nited States Government, the official report relating to the receipts, appropriations, outlays, and
fund accounts. Detailed data on tax returns and collections are published annually by the Internal
Revenue Service. The personnel data relate to staffing and payrolls for the various public functions
and agencies, to employee characteristics, and to civil service status; they are published by the
Office of Personnel Management (formerly Civil Service Commission) and the Bureau of Labor Statistics
(see p. 244).
Budget concept.— Under the unified budget concept, all Federal monies are included in one
comprehensive budget, These monies comprise both Federal funds and trust funds. Federal funds
are derived mainly from taxes and borrowing and are not restricted by law to any specific government
purpose. Trust funds, such as the Unemployment Trust Fund, collect certain taxes and other
receipts for use in carrying out specific purposes or programs in accordance with the terms of the
trust agreement or statute. Trust fund balances include both open-book balances with Treasury and
investments in U.S. securities. Part of the balance is obligated, part unobligated. The balances on
an authorization basis exceed the cash balances because, for a few accounts, budget authority is
not the same as receipts. In recent years, however, the budget totals, under provisions of law, have
excluded some Federal activities—including the Federal Financing Bank, the Postal Service, and
the lending activities of the Rural Electrification Administration. For fiscal year 1982, these activities
(i.e., off-budget Federal entities; see below) are estimated to equal 2.7 percent of the unified
budget. Data showing unified budget totals of budget receipts and outlays are presented in the
1983 Budget for the years 1940 to 1985; more detailed tables generally show data sin ce 1972.
Receipts arising from the Government’s compulsory powers are reported as governmental receipts;
all other receipts, e.g„ from business-type o r market-oriented activities, are offset against
outlays. Outlays are reported on a checks-issued (net) basis (i.e., outlays are recorded at the time
the checks to pay bills are issued).
Debt concept.— For most of U.S. history, the total debt consisted of debt borrowed by the
Treasury (i.e., public debt); it did not include monies which agencies were authorized to borrow
without going through the Treasury (e.g., the Postal Service). The present debt series, includes both
public debt and agency debt. The gross Federal debt includes money borrowed by the Treasury
and by various Federal agencies; it Is the broadest generally used measure of the Federal debt.
Total public debt is restricted to borrowing by the Treasury, the Federal Financing Bank (FFB), and
the value of savings bonds at current redemption value.
Off-budget Federal entities.—Off-budget Federal entities are federally owned and controlled,
but their transactions have been excluded from the budget totals under provisions o f law. Therefore,
their fiscal activities are not reflected in either budget outlays or the budget surplus or deficit;
appropriation requests for their programs are not included in the totals of budget authority for the
budget; and their outlays are not subject to the ceilings set by the congressional budget resolutions.
The surplus or deficit of the off-budget Federal entities is added to the budget surplus or
deficit to arrive at the “ total Federal Government surplus or deficit” , which is financed by borrowing
from the public or by other means. When off-budget outlays are financed by Treasury borrowing,
the additional debt is subject to statutory debt limitation; when financed by the entities’ own borrowing,
it is not. In either case, the additional debt is part of the gross Federal debt.
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