The Congressional Budget Office confirmed on Friday that tax receipts will hit an all-time high in fiscal 2016, with the federal government taking in nearly $3.3 trillion in revenue.
The feds raked in more than $3.268 trillion for the year, the agency reported in its monthly budget review, $19 billion more than the previous record set in 2015. The fiscal year, which runs from Oct. 1 to Sept. 30, ended on Friday.
The difference is negligible, at less than one percent, and if inflation is taken into account, the titleholder is still 2015. The feds collected $3.301 trillion in inflation-adjusted receipts that year.
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However, cause for optimism diminishes when the deficit is taken into account. The feds spent $588 billion more than they took in this year, compared to $439 billion in fiscal 2015. The figure came to over $50 billion more than estimates projected at the beginning of the year, a problem economists attributed to weaker revenue than they expected.
The federal government is struggling to cover expenditures due mainly to mandatory spending programs including Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and interest on the national debt, according to CBO. The programs comprise about two-thirds of the budget.
