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WASHINGTON (AP) — For the first time in five years, the U.S. government has run a budget deficit below $1 trillion.

The government said Wednesday that the deficit for the 2013 budget year totaled $680.3 billion, down from $1.09 trillion in 2012. That's the smallest imbalance since 2008, when the government ran a $458.6 billion deficit.

A stronger economy created more jobs and income over the past year, which generated greater tax revenue. At the same time, the Obama administration and Congress agreed in January to end a temporary cut in Social Security taxes and also to raise income taxes on the wealthy.

The Obama administration stressed in announcing the 2013 results that the government is succeeding in reducing the deficit from the record levels that had been hit.

"It is now less than half of what it was when the president took office," Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew said in a statement.

The $680.3 billion deficit for the just-completed budget year represents 4.1 percent of the total economy, down from 6.8 percent last year. The record deficit was $1.4 trillion set in 2009, Obama's first year in office. http://www.businessweek.com/ap/2013-10-30/us-budget-deficit-down-to-68
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