Despite Higher Tax Revenue, The US Deficit Continued to Expand in December 2018

My table below shows a "Summary of Receipts, Outlays, and the Deficit/Surplus of the U.S. Government by Month Through December 2018."

The Monthly Treasury Statement summarizes the financial activities of the federal government and off-budget federal entities and conforms to the Budget of the U.S. Government.

You can never have too much data so I process the latest reports to see tax collections, spending and the official deficit behaves without "noise" from the obviously biased MSM "Main Stream Media."

From the data, you can clearly see:

• Taxes collected in December 2018 were higher than taxes collected in December 2017 
• Taxes collected in December 2017 were higher than taxes collected in December 2016

Thus, despite lower tax rates on individuals and corporations due to the "Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017", the total tax revenue collected by the US Treasury rose.

Unfortunately,

• Spending in December 2018 was higher than spending in December 2017
• Spending in December 2017 was higher than spending in December 2016

So the deficit continues to grow (at an alarming rate) but the Stock Market doesn't seem to mind as long as interest rates remain relatively low.

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NOTE: Due to the lapse in appropriation, the dates for publication of the Monthly Treasury Statement (MTS) for December, January, and February have changed. Here are the revised dates:

• December MTS – Publish on 2/13
• January MTS – Publish on 3/5
• February MTS – Publish on 3/22
• March MTS – On normal schedule