Final answer:
The statement is false; a budget surplus occurs when tax revenues exceed government spending, while a budget deficit occurs when spending surpasses revenues.
Step-by-step explanation:
The statement that surpluses refer to how much government spending exceeds tax revenues in a given year is false. In fact, a budget surplus occurs when the government receives more money in taxes than it spends. Conversely, a budget deficit happens when government spending exceeds tax revenues. An example of a significant budget deficit was in 2009 when the U.S. federal government spent about $1.4 trillion more than what it collected, marking it as a substantial deficit relative to the country's GDP.