Largest Surplus Was Posted in April of 2001

A few days ago I posted an article titled "The Ten Largest Monthly Deficits of the Past 30+ Years" (link below).

In the article it was revealed that of the ten largest monthly deficits posted by the United States in the past 30+ years, all ten have been posted since the onset of the "Great Recession" in December of 2007.

Given how badly hurt the economy was after the "Great Recession" hit (and how badly hurt the economy continues to be), this can hardly be considered a surprise.

--

For this article, I thought that we would look at the top ten surpluses that have been posted over the past 30+ years (our data goes back to October of 1980). Without further ado:

April 2001, +$189.7 billion surplus
April 2007, +$177.7 billion surplus
April 2000, +$159.5 billion surplus
April 2008, +$159.3 billion surplus
April 1998, +$124.6 billion surplus
April 2006, +$118.8 billion surplus
April 1999, +$113.4 billion surplus
September 2007, +$112.9 billion surplus
April 1997, +$94 billion surplus
January 2001, +$76.4 billion surplus

As you can see, eight of the ten largest surpluses were posted in the month of April. The reason for this - this is when the nation receives an influx of tax revenues as people file and pay their taxes.

Source: The Ten Largest Monthly Deficits of the Past 30+ Years

Source: A History of Surpluses and Deficits in the United States