Month: November 2023

The core Personal Consumption Expenditures price index, which excludes volatile gas and food prices and is the Fed’s preferred inflation gauge, rose 0.2% last month and 3.5% for the year ended in October, according to data released Thursday.  The core PCE price index is at its lowest annual rate since April 2021.

When including gas and food prices, the overall PCE index was unchanged last month. It’s the first time since April 2020 that prices did not rise on a monthly basis.

Annually, the headline index is up 3%, which is the lowest it’s been since March 2021.

The Commerce Department’s latest Personal Income and Outlays report also showed that consumers reined in some spending in October. Consumer expenditures increased 0.2% last month, a marked pullback from the 0.7% jump seen in September.

Spending on international travel, hospital and nursing home services, accommodations and gasoline helped to drive the month’s increase.

Personal income increased by a modest 0.2% last month, and the savings rate ticked up by 0.1 percentage points to 3.8%, according to the report.

Wisconsin retail businesses would be required to accept cash under a bipartisan proposal in the state Legislature.

The bill would prohibit establishments from being “cashless” for any in-person retail transaction of less than $2,000. Retailers could be fined between $200 and $5,000 if they don’t accept cash as payment.

Mobile payments, self-checkout and gas at the pump would not be subject to the regulation, according to the bill’s co-author, Representative Michael Schraa, R-Oshkosh.

At a public hearing on the plan Tuesday, Schraa said people who don’t use credit cards or banks are disenfranchised at establishments — including Lambeau Field — that don’t take cash. He also argued that moving away from cash encourages people to incur credit card debt.

“I go back to what’s written on every single dollar bill: ‘This note (is) legal tender for all debts, public and private,'” he said. “It is Wisconsinites who should make the choice to use paper money or plastic cards and not businesses.”

According to the Pew Research Center, use of cash is on the decline. About 41 percent of Americans use no cash for purchases in a typical week, up from 24 percent in 2015. Some small businesses argue that declining to use cash is safer and lowers labor costs.

But opponents of entirely cashless businesses say that they disenfranchise people who don’t use banks, including young people, certain religious communities and low-income people.

According to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, an estimated 4.5 percent of American households are “unbanked,” meaning that no one living there has a checking or savings account at a bank or credit union. Older people and low-income people are more likely to use cash, according to Gallup.

The Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in early December on a case that has the potential to broadly reshape the U.S. tax code.

At issue in Moore v. United States is the question of whether the federal government can tax certain types of “unrealized” gains, which are property like stocks or bonds that people own but from which they haven’t directly recouped the value, so they don’t have direct access to the money that the property is worth.

The decision could have implications for everything from potential wealth taxes, like the one the Biden administration proposed for billionaires in 2022, to large swaths of the international tax regime.

The dispute arose from businesspeople Charles and Kathleen Moore’s investment in an Indian company that sells farm equipment.

Following feedback from taxpayers, tax professionals, and payment processors and to reduce taxpayer confusion, the Internal Revenue Service delayed the new $600 Form 1099-K reporting threshold requirement for third party payment organizations for tax year 2023 and is planning a threshold of $5,000 for 2024 to phase in the new law.

Third party payment organizations include many popular payment apps and online marketplaces.

The agency is making 2023 another transition year to implement the new requirements under the American Rescue Plan that changed the Form 1099-K reporting threshold for payments taxpayers get selling goods or providing a service over $600. The previous reporting thresholds will remain in place for 2023.

This means that for 2023 and prior years, payment apps and online marketplaces are only required to send out Forms 1099-K to taxpayers who receive over $20,000 and have over 200 transactions.

It’s important to note that the higher threshold does not affect the actual tax law to report income on your tax return. All income, no matter the amount, is taxable unless it’s excluded by law whether a Form 1099-K is sent or not.

The Form 1099-K could be sent to anyone who’s using payment apps or online marketplaces to accept payments for selling goods or providing services. This includes people with side hustles, small businesses, crafters and other sole proprietors.

However, it could also include casual sellers who sold personal stuff like clothing, furniture and other household items that they paid more than they sold it for. Selling items at a loss is not actually taxable income but would have generated many Forms 1099-K for many people with the $600 threshold.

Existing home sales tumbled 4.1% last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 3.79 million units, the lowest level since August 2010, the National Association of Realtors (NAR) said on Tuesday. Home resales are counted at the closing of a contract.

“Prospective home buyers experienced another difficult month due to the persistent lack of housing inventory and the highest mortgage rates in a generation,” said Lawrence Yun, the NAR’s chief economist.

There were 1.15 million previously owned homes on the market last month, down 5.7% from a year ago. At October’s sales pace, it would take 3.6 months to exhaust the current inventory of existing homes, up from 3.3 months a year ago.

A four- to seven-month supply is viewed as a healthy balance between supply and demand. With supply still tight, multiple offers were the norm in some areas, keeping house prices on an upward trend. The median existing house price increased 3.4% from a year earlier to $391,800, the highest for any October.

Properties typically remained on the market for 23 days in October, up from 21 days a year ago. Sixty-six per cent of homes sold in October were on the market for less than a month.

First-time buyers accounted for 28% of sales, as they did a year ago. This share is well below the 40% that economists and realtors say is needed for a robust housing market.

All-cash sales accounted for 29% of transactions compared with 26% a year ago. Distressed sales, including foreclosures, represented only 2% of transactions, virtually unchanged from the previous year.

Yesterday, the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection (DATCP) announced a major settlement with Dollar General Corporation resolving 662 alleged violations of Wisconsin price accuracy laws and 53 alleged violations of refund policy disclosure requirement laws by the retailer. Under the settlement, Dollar General does not admit to any violation of Wisconsin law, but will pay $850,006.11 in civil forfeitures, surcharges, and fees.

Additionally, the business has made changes to prevent future violations, including internal price accuracy checks at every store in Wisconsin at least once every 45 days. Dollar General reports that it has invested, and continues to invest, in improving its price accuracy practices in Wisconsin. Dollar General has spent approximately $70,000 to verify price accuracy since learning of the alleged violations in January and expects to spend approximately $300,000 annually to support price accuracy in Wisconsin going forward. DATCP continues to work with Dollar General to protect Wisconsin consumers through inspections and staff training​.

DATCP conducted price verification inspections at 238 Dollar General stores in Wisconsin between January 30 and February 10, 2023. DATCP Weights and Measures inspectors and municipal inspectors from Appleton, Green Bay, Kenosha, Madison, Menasha, Milwaukee, Reedsburg, and South Milwaukee checked 7,344 products sold by Dollar General to ensure that prices charged at the register matched, or were lower than, prices posted on store shelves. Of these items, DATCP alleged that 662 scanned at a higher price than was posted, resulting in customers being overcharged for 9% of the inspected products. On average, these products scanned at a 17% higher cost than the stated price.

If a customer is overcharged for an item, Wisconsin law requires that merchants using electronic price scanner systems refund at least the difference between the posted price and the price charged at point of sale. These merchants are legally required to inform customers of this law by posting a sign in a conspicuous manner; however, DATCP alleged that Dollar General stores were missing this required signage at 45 stores during the initial inspection, and at 8 stores upon re-inspection.

Last Wednesday, the U.S. Postal Service filed notice with the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC)  of price changes for Shipping Services to take effect January 21, 2024.

USPS Ground Advantage prices would increase by 5.4 percent, Priority Mail service prices would increase by 5.7 percent, and Priority Mail Express service prices would increase by 5.9 percent. The Postal Service is also seeking price adjustments for Special Services products including Post Office Box rental fees and some international mail services that includes Registered Mail and International Mail insurance. The PRC will review the prices before they are scheduled to take effect.

The pricing for USPS Connect Local will remain unchanged. This service provides businesses with an affordable same-day and next-day delivery for their local customers.

The complete Postal Service price filings with prices for all products can be found on the PRC website under the edockets System. For the Shipping Services filing, see Docket No. CP2024-52. The Postal Service provides additional resources to assist customers regarding the price changes. These tools include price lists, downloadable price files and Federal Register Notices.

Children who are 14 and 15 years old would no longer need work permits approved by the state in order to get jobs in most fields other than agriculture, under a Republican bill debated Thursday. State data shows there have been 32,912 work permits issued this year.

Rep. Clint Moses, R-Menomonie, told members of the state Assembly Committee on Labor and Integrated Employment that his plan would eliminate “government red tape and bureaucracy” and doesn’t impact any existing child labor laws.

“If a teenager wants a job, they should be able to apply to a job and start working,” Moses said. “They shouldn’t need approval by their school and state to obtain a job.”

In 2017, GOP lawmakers and former Gov. Scott Walker modified child labor laws to eliminate work permit requirements for 16- and 17-year-olds.

Moses told colleagues that 16 other states have already removed work permit requirements for all teenagers, stating Wisconsin “is about halfway there.”

Industry groups like the National Federation of Independent Businesses, Wisconsin Independent Businesses, Inc. have registered in support of eliminating the state’s work permit requirement. Two unions, the Wisconsin Education Association Council and the Wisconsin State AFL-CIO, registered in opposition.

A spokesperson for Governor Tony Evers did not respond to a WPR request for comment on whether he’d support the bill.

While the repeal of the work permit statutes wouldn’t change other child labor protections in Wisconsin, a fiscal estimate provided by the state Department of Workforce Development said it eliminates funding used by the agency to educate employers about the allowable hours of work per week and monitor employers’ compliance with the law.

Currently, those applying for work permits pay a $10 fee, which is reimbursed by employers. The DWD estimates the repeal would reduce revenues by around $144,000 per year.

Governor Tony Evers celebrated “National Apprenticeship Week” by announcing that Wisconsin’s Registered Apprenticeship Program has reached a record 16,384 enrolled apprentices, an all-time record in the program’s 112-year history.

Wisconsin Apprenticeship pairs structured, on-the-job training with classroom instruction, allowing apprentices to be paid to “earn as they learn.” Wisconsin was the first in the nation with a registered apprenticeship program and is unique among the 50 states in requiring employers to pay their apprentices for both time worked and time spent in required classroom instruction. This recognizes the importance of a dual training system that combines skills obtained on the job site with technical knowledge in the classroom. 

Wisconsin has more than 200 apprenticeship occupations with over 2,600 employers. While traditional construction trades apprenticeships continue to be strong, emerging employment sectors and occupations, including healthcare, are building the depth of offerings and growing apprenticeship opportunities.

In April, Governor Evers celebrated record-breaking Youth Apprenticeships during the 2021-2022 school year with 8,357 participants and 5,719 employers. Youth Apprenticeship, which started in 1991 also as the first program of its kind in the nation, is a strong connector to registered apprenticeship programs.

The Wisconsin Legislature on Tuesday passed a bill that makes a series of changes to the state’s alcohol laws.

Most of the changes under the bill have widespread support, and the bill passed with bipartisan support in both the Assembly and Senate. The Senate passed the bill, 21-11, with 14 Republicans and seven Democrats voting in favor of it. The Assembly passed the bill, 88-10; only seven Democrats and three Republicans voted against the bill in that chamber.

The bill would modernize laws governing the production and sale of beer, wine and liquor. The bill gives breweries new freedoms, such as the ability to mass produce canned mixed drinks, make hard seltzers and sell beers made outside of Wisconsin in their tap rooms.

Wineries would no longer have to close at 9 p.m. Bars could stay open until 4 a.m. during the 2024 Republican National Convention in the counties of Milwaukee, Waukesha, Ozaukee, Washington, Racine, Kenosha, Walworth, Dodge, Rock, Dane, Columbia, Fond du Lac and Sheboygan.

Large and small breweries, from MolsonCoors to New Glarus registered in favor of the bill. Kwik Trip and the Wisconsin Restaurant Association also back the measure.

However, the Wisconsin Farm Bureau Federation and Wisconsin Farmers Union were among the groups opposed to the bill. That’s because another provision requires wedding barn operators to either get a liquor license or obtain a separate approval for the ability to host no more than six events per year, where guests could only bring their own beer and wine.

One of the bill’s original co-authors, Sen. Patrick Testin (R-Stevens Point) said after Tuesday’s vote the wedding barn provision was meant to ensure wedding barns operated under the same rules as taverns and restaurants that host events, including wedding receptions.

“All this simply does is create a level playing field for these operators,” Testin said. “And sure, they’re gonna have to change their business model somewhat, but I still think they’re going to be profitable.”