Just $1.6 Million Contributed Through August of 2013

Did you know that you can make "gift contributions" to help pay down the US debt?

The US government makes it VERY easy to pay down some of the public debt outstanding, should you feel so inclined. You can mail a check to the Bureau of the Public Debt, or you can send some money on Pay.gov using your credit card, checking account or savings account! Uncle Sam takes any and all contributions.

For the last eight fiscal years, the US government has collected at least a million dollars from the public to help pay down the US debt. 2012 was the "best" year on record, as Americans contributed a total of $7,749,618.27 towards paying down the debt. This money made a ridiculously small dent in the total debt outstanding, but the contributions were happily accepted nonetheless.

In the 2013 fiscal year, however, the amount of gift contributions to reduce the public debt has fallen dramatically.

Through the first 11 months of the 2013 fiscal year (up until the end of August), the American public had contributed just $1.61 million towards paying down the country's colossal debt load. July and August were particularly light, as the US public saw fit to donate just $28k to the cause.

Here is a breakdown of the 2013 FY contributions by month:

August 2013 - $28,491.24
July 2013 - $28,458.75
June 2013 - $227,253.79
May 2013 - $64,618.24
April 2013 - $274,757.48
March 2013 - $61,775.53
February 2013 - $22,834.00
January 2013 - $421,367.33
December 2012 - $132,399.84
November 2012 - $65,709.66
October 2012 - $290,195.03

Barring some sort of surge in donations in September, the American public is on track to donate the smallest amount of money towards paying down the debt since 2006.

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Source: TreasuryDirect.gov - Gift Contributions to Reduce Debt Held by the Public

Filed under: General Knowledge