THE BUDGET: Better Balance

All summer, as Congress labored and federal costs rose, fiscal experts worked on the midyear review of the U.S. budget. The question: Would the U.S. Government emerge from fiscal ’57 in as good shape as last year, i.e., with a balanced budget and a surplus? Last week, when Treasury Secretary George Humphrey and Budget Director Percival Brundage released the report, they agreed that it would.

For the year beginning last July i, federal spending is estimated at $69.1 billion, up $4 billion from last January’s estimate. Major factor in the rise: costs of the new soil bank and higher-than-expected expenditures to support farm commodity prices. More than offsetting that increase, however, was a $4.3 billion rise in the estimate of receipts, to $69.8 billion. Reason: a big spurt in personal income—and hence in anticipated income taxes—reflecting the continuing and growing prosperity. The net result for the budget is an anticipated surplus of $700 million, almost twice as much as predicted in January.