Final answer:
The statement in question is false. A balanced budget occurs when spending equals revenue over a fiscal year. The budget is not balanced if it simply transitions from a deficit to a surplus within the same year.
Step-by-step explanation:
The statement that a budget is considered balanced if it dives into deficit and then into surplus within the same year is false. A balanced budget occurs when the government's spending is exactly equal to its tax revenue over a fiscal year. If a government experiences both a deficit and a surplus within a single fiscal year, it simply means that at different parts of the year, the government was spending more than its revenue and at other times, it was spending less.
Historical examples include the federal government running budget surpluses from 1998-2001 and experiencing its largest budget deficit in 2009. Also, requiring a balanced budget every year would hinder automatic economic stabilizers that can cushion against economic fluctuations.