States Facing Economic Headwinds in New Year: Jonathan Williams on NTD News
States that aren’t using fiscal discipline are really paying the price.
Jonathan Williams, ALEC Chief Economist and Executive Vice President of Policy, recently spoke with NTD News about the many headwinds facing the states in 2023.
Host: What are some of the biggest challenges facing states right now?
Jonathan Williams: There’s a lot of economic headwinds that’s causing real problems for taxpayers across the country and at the federal level. We are talking about this gusher of $5 trillion and enhanced government spending and overspending in many cases during the pandemic at the federal level, which causes the predictable inflation crisis and the debt limit crisis that is being talked about right now.
California just announced it’s going to have tens of billions of dollars in a budget deficit scenario, when they recently had a major surplus. They clearly overspent. That state’s general fund spending grew by 50 percent in the last year. It’s no surprise taxes in California remained sky high and out migration continues. More than 300,000 people moved out in the last year alone.
Other states have adopted measures that limit their spending. One great example is Colorado with their Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights. Texas and Florida also have meaningful ways of balancing their state budget.
That is exactly what we need to see in Washington DC right now – more fiscal discipline. We’re seeing it at the state level at some degree. And those states that aren’t using fiscal discipline are really paying the price.
With the #NationalDebt over $31 trillion and hitting the current debt limit last week, what is the current state of the U.S. economy? @SteveLanceNTD sat down with Johnathan Williams (@Taxeconomist) to discuss.https://t.co/jWOy48Mnth pic.twitter.com/ZeiqhCvBdD
— Capitol Report_NTD (@capitolreport) January 24, 2023