The Congressional Budget Office reports this week that federal revenues will jump 19 percent this year to 19.6% of GDP – a two-decade high.

Tax collections so far in 2022 have been larger than currently available data on economic activity would suggest. CBO will evaluate the reasons for the discrepancy as more detailed information from tax returns becomes available. In total, revenues are projected to rise by $789 billion in 2022, to $4.8 trillion. Revenues will reach 19.6%of GDP this year—the largest that receipts have been as a share of the economy in more than two decades.

As the chart makes clear, unlike the anti-Trump tax cuts doomsayers predicted, revenues are firmly above their historical average. So how is it that we are running trillion-dollar deficits? The problem is spending.