U.S. government collected record $1.48 trillion in first half of FY 2016 but still runs massive deficit

It seems the United States government needs to hire a new accountant. The current regime in Washington is just terrible at adding and subtracting, or running a budget.

According to data from the Treasury Department, federal tax revenues hit a record $1.48 trillion in just the first half of fiscal year 2016 (October to March). What’s even more astonishing is that Washington still ran a near half-trillion-dollar budget deficit in that same time frame.

The Treasury Department notes that tax revenue receipts stem from “individual income taxes, corporate income taxes, social insurance and retirement taxes, unemployment insurance taxes, excise taxes, estate and gift taxes, customs duties, and other miscellaneous items.”

Of the $1.48 trillion, a large chunk of it came from individual income taxes: $675 billion.

Despite the record amount of revenues in such a short amount of time, the government spent just under $2 trillion. Therefore, the budget deficit currently stands at $461 billion. Yikes!