The Budget: Nitty-Gritty Details

You thought the budget was just thousands of pages of dry numbers? Well, it is. But you're reading this anyway, so you must be interested. Below, you'll find where the money comes from, and where it goes, a breakdown of tax receipts and some budget history.

INCOME AND OUTGO:

Where the federal government gets a typical dollar and where it goes:

Income: Individual income taxes, 46 cents; Social Security, Medicare and other payroll taxes, 34 cents; corporate income taxes, 11 cents; excise taxes, 4 cents; other, 5 cents.

Spending: Direct benefit payments to individuals, 50 cents; national defense, 15 cents; grants to states and localities, 15 cents; interest 14 cents; other federal operations, 5 cents; surplus, 1 cent.

REVENUE BREAKDOWN:

Government receipts, in billions of dollars, from President Bill Clinton's proposed fiscal 1999 budget. Figures for 1997 are actual; figures for 1998 are estimated, and figures for 1999 are proposed.

Source: Associated Press

BUDGET HISTORY

The federal government in its first 112 years, 1789 through 1900, collected $15.622 billion, spent $16.543 billion and ran up a debt of $921 million.

Receipts, expenditures and surpluses or deficits in this century, with estimates for 1998 and projections in President Clinton's budget for 1999 through 2003, in millions of dollars:

Source: Associated Press

Monday Feb. 2, 1998

• Clinton Unveils His Balanced Budget
• The Budget: Nitty-Gritty Details
• Republicans Criticize New Spending In Clinton Budget
• Starr Subpoenas Stephanopulous
• Jones To Appeal Ruling Excluding Lewinsky From Her Case
• Clinton Will Visit New Mexico Tuesday
• Panetta Won't Run For Governor
• Lewinsky's Mother To Marry Media Executive