Federal tax revenues for the first 5 months of FY2014, $1.104 trillion, hit an inflation-adjusted record

There is a reason President Obama thinks the era of economic austerity is over – CNS News reports that in the first five months of FY2014, between October 2013 and February 2014, the federal government took in a record $1,104,947,000,000 in tax revenue. That is not only a current-dollar record, but also an inflation-adjusted record:

Inflation-adjusted federal tax revenues hit a record $1,104,947,000,000 in the first five months of fiscal 2014, but the federal government still ran a $377,379,000,000 deficit during that time, according to the Monthly Treasury Statement for February….

In constant 2014 dollars, the $1,104,947,000,000 that the federal government collected from October through February in fiscal 2014 was $90,193,750,000 more than the $1,014,753,250,000 it collected in October through February in fiscal 2013.

After the current fiscal year, the second highest federal tax intake in the first five months of a fiscal year occurred in the first five months of fiscal 2007, when the government collected $1,076,721,860,000 in 2014 dollars—or $28,225,140,000 less than in the first five months of this fiscal year.

The nominal-dollar outlays of $1,482,327,000,000 was the third highest over the first five months of a fiscal year, behind only FY2013 and FY2011. On an inflation-adjusted basis, every year prior to FY2009 saw less spending in the first five months than FY2014.

Even though the $377 billion deficit over the first five months is the best such performance during the Obama administration, it is worse than every year prior to FY2009 on both a current-dollar (not inflation-adjusted) and a constant-dollar (inflation-adjusted) basis. FY2008, which was closest, saw a $264,339,000,000 current-dollar/$294,442,000,000 constant-dollar deficit in the first five months of that year.

Indeed, even when adjusted for inflation, the $1.104 trillion the federal government took in would have resulted in a first-five-month surplus every year prior to FY2003. That is something so rare, between FY1981 and now, that happened only twice, in FY2000 and FY2001.