A perpetual topic of political debate is the status of the government budget. Recall that a budget deficit is an excess of government spending over tax revenue. Governments finance budget deficits by borrowing in the bond market, and the accumulation of past government borrowing is called the government debt. A budget surplus, an excess of tax revenue over government spending, can be used to repay some of the government debt. If government spending exactly equals tax revenue, the government is said to have a balanced budget