costs  spending  expenditure  expenses  outlay  outgoings

These are all words for money spent by a government, an organization or a person.

costs the total amount of money that needs to be spent by a business: labor/production costs  rising costs

spending the amount of money that is spent, especially by a government or an organization: public spending  More spending on health was promised.

expenditure (rather formal) an amount of money spent by a government, an organization or a person: expenditure on education

expenses money that has to be spent by a person or an organization; money that you spend while you are working which your employer will pay back to you later: legal expenses  travel expenses

outlay the money that you have to spend in order to start a new business or project, or in order to save yourself money or time later: The best equipment is costly but is vey well worth the outlay.

outgoings (BrE) the regular costs that a person or business has, such as rent and electricity

PATTERNS AND COLLOCATIONS

spending/expenditure/outlay on sth

high/low/total/overall costs/spending/expenditure/expenses/outlay/outgoings

capital costs/spending/expenditure/expenses/outlay

government/public/education/health costs/spending/expenditure

household costs/spending/expenditure/expenses/outgoings

to increase/reduce costs/spending/expenditure/expenses/ the outlay/outgoings