(CNSNews.com) - The federal government set new records in the taxes it collected, the spending it engaged in and the deficit it ran through the first eight months of fiscal 2021 (October through May), according to the Monthly Treasury Statement.
Federal taxes hit a record $2,606,879,000,000 while federal spending climbed to $4,670,668,000,000, resulting in a federal deficit of $2,063,789,000,000.
When the historical October-through-May tax revenues are adjusted for inflation into May 2021 dollars (using the Bureau of Labor Statistics inflation calculator), the second-highest tax revenues for the October-through-May period came in fiscal 2016. That year the Treasury collected $2,397,198,010,000 in total tax revenues (in constant May 2021 dollars) in the first eight months of the fiscal year.
When the October-through-May spending numbers are adjusted into May 2021 dollars, the second-highest spending during that period came in fiscal 2020, when the Treasury spent $4,094,228,390,000 (in constant May 2021 dollars) in the first eight months of the fiscal year.
When the October-through-May deficit numbers are adjusted into May 2021 dollars, the second-highest deficit also came in fiscal 2020, when the federal government ran a deficit of $1,974,173,660,000 in the first eight months of the fiscal year.
Table 9 of the Monthly Treasury Statement, which lists tax receipts by source and expenditures by function, lists the largest spending category so far in this fiscal year as “income security.” The federal government has laid out $1,273,013,000,000 for this function in the October-through-May period.
The House Budget Committee describes “income security” spending as follows: “Function 600 (Income Security) consists of programs that keep Americans healthy and safe, separated into six categories: general retirement and disability insurance, federal employee retirement and disability (including military retirement); unemployment compensation; housing assistance; nutrition assistance; and other income security, which includes programs like foster care, Supplemental Security Income, and the earned income and child tax credits.”
In addition to the $1,273,013,000,000 that the Monthly Treasury Statement says the federal government has spent so far this fiscal year on “income security,” the government has also spent $749,551,000,000 on Social Security and $454,873,000,000 on Medicare.
Defense spending in the first eight months of this fiscal year was $504,455,000,000.
