Only rarely
will the payment of taxes
exactly match the spending of the sovereign.
Typically
the spending exceeds the taxes,
which is handy,
since the excess of spending over taxes
is the net amount of money sloshing around in the society
for the use of all the subjects!
Usually the excess of spending over taxes
is called the deficit
in reference to a specific period,
or the national debt
to refer to the total accumulation of spending in excess of taxation.
The US constrains itself to issue debt
to correspond to the excess of spending over taxes.
This is a policy choice,
not a law of nature.
The US further constrains itself
by placing a limit
on the accumulated excess of spending over taxes:
the debt ceiling.
These are purely matters of policy,
not necessity.
There's no necessity for the USG to issue debt
to match the excess of spending over taxation.
There's no necessity for the USG to cap the total amount
of debt issued.
Indeed, it's a terrible idea,
unless you happen to enjoy
the periodic theatrical posturing
of politicians threatening to upend
the fundamental underpinnings of society's financial wealth.
The national debt is the only component
of subject financial wealth
which is free of involuntary default risk.
We might do better to call
the national savings.