The government recorded a $33.08 billion budget surplus in December, helped along by a flow of tax payments, the Treasury Department said last week.
Officials are well aware, Mr. Saland emphasized, that there is always a delay between economic recovery and any surge in the flow of tax revenues.
There had been some expectations that the October-December period would show a decline to some degree, as the flow of tax money for public works projects dwindled and consumers curtailed spending.
From a mixture of fear and awe of the financial sector, both parties allowed themselves to be persuaded that "light-touch" regulation was necessary to preserve London as a global leader in finance and to sustain the flow of tax revenues from the City into the Treasury.
The law first passed in 1867 says that "no suit for the purpose of restraining the assessment or collection of any tax shall be maintained in any court by any person". It was designed to make sure the flow of tax collection necessary to keep the government running was not disrupted by lawsuits.
The free flow of tax breaks and subsidies in Texas makes it particularly fertile ground to examine these economic development deals and the fundamental trade-off behind them: the more states give to businesses, the less they have available in the short term to spend on basic services, a calculation made more stark by the recession.
Mr. Camp also talked through the notion held by some Republicans that the Treasury Department could manage a debt ceiling breach by channeling the daily in-flow of tax dollars to the most pressing needs, paying government creditors, sending out Social Security checks and financing the military.
We need to hold people to a higher standard". But memos indicate that the continued flow of tax dollars into centers with lapsed licenses and known problems is now conscious city policy, as DHS and DCRA officials struggle to find thousands of new day-care slots for welfare reform children.
The ITC has been instrumental in encouraging photovoltaic installations among individuals and businesses, and has also facilitated the flow of tax equity-based funding into the solar sector.
It has a role to play in supporting connectivity in rural and underserved communities, but the prospect of securing a steady flow of tax funding to build and maintain a nationwide, 21st century communications infrastructure appears bleak.
