Treasury, Department of the

US government department created by Congress in 1789, with Alexander Hamilton as its first secretary. Its principal agencies are the Internal Revenue Service, the Customs Service, the Secret Service, the US Mint, and the Bureau of Engraving and Printing. The secretary of the treasury is Henry M Paulson Jr from 2006.

As well as collecting taxes, the Treasury Department has several basic functions, which include producing all postage stamps, currency, and coinage; supervising national banks and thrift institutions; advising on domestic and international financial, monetary, economic, trade, and tax policy; and protecting the president and vice-president and their families, the candidates for those offices, foreign missions resident in Washington, and visiting foreign dignitaries.