Flush with tax revenues from a booming economy, the federal government posted a record $237 billion surplus for the budget year that ended in September, the Clinton administration announced Tuesday. It marked the third straight year of surpluses. Social Security taxes provided nearly $150 billion of the surplus. The government’s 2000 surplus surpassed the previous record of $124.4 billion for fiscal year 1999 and came on top of a $69.2 billion surplus in fiscal year 1998. The 1998 surplus marked the first time the government had managed to finish in the black since 1969. The last time the government reported three consecutive years of surpluses was in 1947, 1948 and 1949. The record-breaking economy is in its longest-ever streak of uninterrupted growth.The prosperity also is helping to generate more tax revenues.
