Federal tax receipts for the first eleven months of the fiscal year hit a new record in August, according to the Congressional Budget Office, and reached a total of $2.909 trillion by the end of the month.
The feds took in $26 billion more than the previous record for the same period, according to the agency’s monthly budget review, set in 2015. The change was negligible after adjusting for inflation, for a difference of less than $20 billion.
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The deficit painted a bleaker picture. The feds added $622 billion to the national debt by the end of August, an 18 percent increase over the same period last year and a $98 billion increase over last month. That means the shortfall will probably exceed $700 billion by the end of September, a 60 percent increase over 2015.
Auditors in August revised estimates for the deficit from the beginning of the fiscal year, which runs from Oct. 1 to Sept. 30, to admit that figure is going to be worse than expected due to a shortfall in revenue. Analysts initially projected revenue of $3.9 trillion and $3.4 trillion in spending.
The growth in spending is attributable mainly to mandatory programs that include Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and interest on the national debt. Taken together, the areas account for approximately two-thirds of annual federal spending.
