The Government Just Posted Its First Four-Month Budget Surplus In Years

The U.S. government posted a net surplus over a four-month period for the first time since 2007 in the March-June, according to the latest monthly Treasury statement.

For June, the surplus totaled $71 billion. That actually fell short of expectations of a surplus of $80 billion.

Still, Washington is now on pace to record the lowest annual deficit since 2008, with a fiscal year to date deficit of $366 billion. That's 28% less than the shortfall recorded in the same period last year, according to Marketwatch, thanks mostly to increased revenue.

"Deficits are rapidly declining," Paul Edelstein, director of U.S. financial economics at IHS Global Insight Inc. in Lexington, Massachusetts, said before the report according to Bloomberg. "A lot of it is coming on the revenue side, mostly from taxes -- there were increases in payroll taxes last year, which are still being felt this year, corporate profits are up and they are paying more in taxes."

Here's the chart:

Click here to see the full release from the Treasury Department »