The Daily LedgerExplainer | Revenue
Where does the federal government’s money come from?
Income taxes, payroll taxes, customs duties and more: the $4.85 trillion revenue mix, sourced line by line.
Key takeaways
- Total federal revenue (receipts) in FY2026: $4.85 trillion.
- Individual income taxes ($2.55T) and payroll taxes ($1.61T) together supply about 86% of all revenue.
- Customs duties ($167B), tariffs, are a real but small slice: about 3.5% of revenue.
WASHINGTON — Total federal revenue in FY2026: $4.85 trillion, and just two tax types, individual income taxes and payroll taxes, supply about 86% of it.
The full ranking
| Revenue source | FY2026 receipts | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Individual income taxes | $2,548B | 52.6% |
| Employment and general retirement (payroll taxes) | $1,607B | 33.2% |
| Corporation income taxes | $295B | 6.1% |
| Customs duties | $167B | 3.5% |
| Excise taxes | $93B | 1.9% |
| Unemployment insurance | $49B | 1.0% |
| Miscellaneous receipts | $43B | 0.9% |
| Estate and gift taxes | $36B | 0.7% |
| Other retirement | $8B | 0.2% |
| Total receipts | $4,845B | 100% |
Source: U.S. Department of the Treasury, Monthly Treasury Statement, Table 9, August 2026. Shares calculated by The Daily Ledger; may not sum to 100% due to rounding.
What the ranking reveals
Two taxes do nearly all the work. Individual income taxes and payroll taxes, the taxes withheld from paychecks, supply $4.15 trillion of the $4.85 trillion total. Every other source combined is about one-seventh of revenue.
Corporate taxes are a small slice. At $295 billion (6.1%), corporate income taxes contribute roughly one-ninth what individuals pay. This share has shrunk over decades as rates fell and the economy shifted.
Tariffs are visible but minor in revenue terms. Customs duties brought in $167 billion, real money, and the subject of intense debate, but about 3.5% of total revenue. Even large tariff increases move the deficit far less than changes to income or payroll taxes.
The estate tax is a rounding error. At $36 billion, estate and gift taxes are 0.7% of revenue, significant to the families who pay them, negligible to the federal budget.
Revenue vs. the deficit
Revenue of $4.85 trillion against spending of $6.81 trillion leaves the $1.97 trillion deficit. One way to see the scale: the government would need roughly 40% more revenue, or equivalently deep spending cuts, to balance the budget in a single year. That is why deficit debates always come back to the two biggest revenue sources and the five biggest spending categories.
Source: U.S. Department of the Treasury, Monthly Treasury Statement, Table 9, August 2026.
Sources and methodology
Methodology. Figures are fiscal-year-to-date receipts by source from the U.S. Treasury’s Monthly Treasury Statement, Table 9, for FY2026 through August 31, 2026 (the latest published month). Rounded to the nearest billion.
- U.S. Department of the Treasury, Monthly Treasury Statement, Table 9 – receipts by source, FY2026 through August 2026 (fiscaldata.treasury.gov)
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