Treasury: Record-High Taxes Collected in First Half of FY 2016

The federal government's deficit was still at $461 billion for the first half of fiscal year 2016, even though federal tax revenues hit record levels, according to a new monthly Treasury Department statement. 

Federal tax revenues were at an inflation-adjusted $1.48 trillion for the first half of the fiscal year, reports The Washington Free Beacon, reflecting revenue from taxes for individuals, corporations, social insurance, retirement, unemployment, excise, estates and gifts, as well as custom duties another items.

During the same time period, government spending totalled $1.94 trillion, leaving the $461 billion surplus.

The first half of fiscal year 2016, which stretched from October 2015 through March of this year, taxes were higher than during the first half of all other fiscal years, even taking inflation into consideration, the report shows. The current fiscal year will end on Sept. 30.

Most of the money collected came from individual income taxes, which totaled $675 billion. In fiscal year 2015, the government collected $1.42 trillion in inflation-adjusted tax revenues. And since 1998, when the Treasury Department started tracking the data on its website, tax revenue have increased by 33 percent, with $1.11 trillion collected in 1998.

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