Transparency

Definitions

Official datasets use shorthand that most readers should not have to decode. This library covers the labels used on Revenue, Congress, and Agencies pages.

Budget concepts

Deficit, debt, discretionary, mandatory, obligations, and other vocabulary.

Discretionary spendingSpending Congress sets each year in appropriations bills.
Mandatory spendingSpending written into permanent law, such as Social Security and Medicare.
Net interestInterest the government pays on its debt, minus interest it earns.
Deficit or surplusWhen outlays exceed revenues (deficit) or fall short (surplus) in a fiscal year.
Debt held by the publicTreasury securities held outside the government itself.
Federal revenuesTaxes and other receipts the government collects in a fiscal year.
Federal outlaysMoney the government actually pays out in a fiscal year.
Award obligationsLegal commitments to spend on contracts, grants, loans, and similar awards.
IRS gross collectionsTaxes collected and attributed to a state by the IRS Data Book.
On-budget vs off-budgetOff-budget usually means Social Security (and sometimes Postal Service) accounts.
Federal fiscal yearRuns October 1 through September 30, labeled by the ending calendar year.

Treasury receipt types

How national receipts are grouped in the Monthly Treasury Statement.

CBO revenue lines

CBO revenue variable names in plain language.

Agencies

Who is awarding or administering the dollars.

Treasury outlay lines

Large Monthly Treasury Statement accounts, including trust funds.