Thursday, Americans woke up to the news that the U.S. economy continued to contract for the second straight quarter. For Americans who have been experiencing a higher cost of living in the last year or so, it is not necessarily news as much as it is an affirmation of what they have already been experiencing, which is the economy is in a recession.
If you ask the Biden Administration about these economic realities, however, it appears they would much rather have their ‘heads-in-the-sand’ and mince words, attempting to escape culpability for such economic woes.
According to the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Economic Analysis, in the first quarter of 2022, the U.S. Gross Domestic Product (GDP) fell by -1.6% (January through March). In the second quarter of 2022 (April through June), the GDP is estimated to have fallen -0.9%.
The report goes on to say, “The decrease in real GDP reflected decreases in private inventory investment, residential fixed investment, federal government spending, state and local government spending, and nonresidential fixed investment…”
The generally accepted definition of a recession, (i.e. the one that has been used by mainstream economists previously) is that of:
Recession: a period of temporary economic decline during which trade and industrial activity are reduced, generally identified by a fall in GDP in two successive quarters.
Yet, despite this previously accepted definition, the Biden Administration, and allies in the national media, continue to dance around the economic reality, blaming everything and everyone else but their own economic policies and reactions to the ongoing historic inflation and runaway spending by the federal government.
For taxpayers, the road ahead looks bleak, but it does not have to.
What Does This Mean for Texas Taxpayers?
Texas, in somewhat contrast, continues to boast economic growth and success. That is not to say it is without its problems, however, Texas taxpayers, and more broadly Texans are also feeling the economic impacts of historic inflation, runaway government spending, and higher costs of living.
Today’s economic realities really speak to the importance of ensuring that Texas’ state and local governments work to ensure that things like taxes are not raised at all, especially in a recession environment.
Taxpayers should demand that their local governments adopt the ‘no new revenue rates’ as they are in the process of finalizing and adopting their operating budgets for the next year, right now.
Similarly, as the state legislature gets set to convene in January of 2023, facing a historic revenue surplus (i.e. over-collected taxpayer dollars), taxpayers should demand that their state lawmakers practice fiscal responsibility, and not allow them to plunder the money and spend it on pet projects, while everyday Texans continue to suffer from things like rising property taxes all across the state, despite being told they have been provided relief in recent legislative sessions.
Texans for Fiscal Responsibility (TFR), recently released the ‘Texas Prosperity Plan’ to help address many of the economic challenges facing the state.
Go read the Texas Prosperity Plan for yourself and voice your support for banning taxpayer-funded lobbying, eliminating the property tax, and freezing state spending by signing up to support the TPP. Sign up for The Fiscal Note to keep up to date on all fiscal issues that affect Texans, especially our broken property tax system. We CAN put Texas on a path to fiscal sanity and future prosperity if we amplify our voices loud enough.
