The federal government remains on an unsustainable fiscal path, with its net operating cost more than doubling over the past fiscal year, according to an audit from the Government Accountability Office.
The government collected $3.3 trillion in taxes and other revenues in fiscal 2016, an increase of $11.3 billion from the previous year. The government’s gross costs totaled $4.5 trillion.
The government’s net operating cost, the difference between the costs it incurs and the revenue it takes in, rose dramatically to $1 trillion in fiscal 2016. This figure increasing by $533.2 billion in one year, more than double the previous fiscal year.
The departments responsible for the largest shares of the government’s net cost were Health and Human Services, Veterans Affairs, and Defense, as well as the Social Security Administration, which is an independent agency.
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