Washington (AP) -- The tax man is really raking it in.

The Treasury Department says federal revenue collections hit an all-time high in April, contributing to a further improvement in the budget deficit for the year.

Tax collections swell in April every year as individuals file their tax returns by the deadline. Still, the monthly budget report shows the government collected $383.6 billion last month, the largest monthly tax collection on record.

According to the report, the federal deficit through the first seven months of this budget year totals $80.8 billion. That's a lot less than the more than $184 billion imbalance run up during the first seven months of the previous budget year.

So far this year, tax revenues total $1.505 trillion, an increase of 11.2 percent over the same period last year.

Copyright 2007 by the Associated Press. All rights reserved.