Where does the largest portion of federal revenue come from?
James Olson
Updated on February 09, 2026
personal income taxes. The largest proportion of federal revenues comes from PERSONAL INCOME TAX.
What is federal government revenue?
Federal revenue consists mostly of individual, corporate, and social insurance taxes collected from the people who live, work, or do business in the United States each Fiscal Year.
What is the largest source of tax revenue for the US federal government?
individual income taxes
In the United States, individual income taxes (federal, state, and local) were the primary source of tax revenue in 2019, at 41.5 percent of total tax revenue. Social insurance taxes made up the second-largest share, at 24.9 percent, followed by consumption taxes, at 17.6 percent, and property taxes, at 12.1 percent.
How much revenue does the federal government take in each year?
U.S. Tax Revenue by Year
| Fiscal Year | Revenue |
|---|---|
| FY 2020 | $3.71 trillion (estimated) |
| FY 2019 | $3.46 trillion (actual) |
| FY 2018 | $3.33 trillion |
| FY 2017 | $3.32 trillion |
Where does the majority of federal revenue come from?
The majority of revenue collected by the federal government comes from taxes. Half of U.S. government revenue in 2019, about $1.7 trillion, came from the public via individual income taxes, of which a significant amount came from payroll taxes, which are paid by employees. The second largest source is Social Security and Medicare taxes.
What are the largest expenditures of the federal government?
What does the U.S. government spend money on? As shown in the table below, the federal government’s largest expenditures include Social Security ($1 trillion, 23% of federal spending); national defense ($687.6 billion, 15% of spending); and Medicare ($651 billion, 15% of spending).
Where does the money for the federal budget come from?
Federal Budget. Roughly 80 percent comes from the individual income tax and the payroll taxes that fund social insurance programs (figure 1). Another 9 percent comes from the corporate income tax, and the rest is from a mix of sources.
How much money does the federal government make in a year?
In fiscal year 2019 (Oct. 1, 2018, to Sept. 30, 2019), the federal government collected $3.5 trillion in revenue. If you live or work in this country, most likely you contribute to the revenue of the United States.
