Tax Withholding Growth through February: No Evidence of Economic Slowdown
Posted on February 28, 2020 Tax withholding growth in February looks to be just about back to the steady, solid pace of most of the second half of last year. After being slightly elevated in December and especially so in January, withholding growth in February reverted most of the way back to the narrow band […]
A Substantial NIPA Wage Revision for 2019 Looks Very Unlikely
Posted on February 24, 2020 Alright, this may be a bit in the weeds—perhaps well into the weeds—but I see no evidence from available data that the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) this summer will be substantially revising overall wages and salaries for 2019 as measured in the National Income and Product Accounts (NIPAs). That […]
Withholding Growth in the First Half of February: Returning Toward Pre-December Amounts
Posted on February 19, 2020 Not surprisingly, federal collections from tax withholding—that is, amounts withheld from paychecks and remitted to the Treasury Department for income and payroll taxes—have been growing more slowly in the first half of February compared to the elevated amounts of growth recorded in December and January. Withholding growth in recent days […]
Early Tax Filing Season Data: Overall Refunds Yet Again Drop to Start the Filing Season
Posted on February 14, 2020. Although it is way too early in the 2020 income tax filing season–which began at the end of January–to say much about tax refunds, we can say that the early IRS data releases show a continuation of the trend in recent years for taxpayers to receive refunds later and later. […]
January Employment Report: Recent Decline in Total Wage Growth, Inconsistent with Withholding Data
Posted on February 7, 2020 The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported in its January employment report that nonfarm payroll jobs increased by 225,000 in January from the amount in December, and the unemployment rate inched up 0.1 percentage points to 3.6 percent, still a historically low rate. The increase in jobs in January was well […]