Manufacturing Taxes in the MIdwest
One of our state revenue contacts in a classic midwestern manufacturing state–cars!-tracks withheld receipts flowing in from the manufacturing sector in his large state. He, and we, use withheld receipts because they are tied to ordinary wages, and bonuses, not to non-wage income, which is so noisy that we once heard an official at the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) remark that it’s a waste of time and tax dollars to try to project that stream out more than a year. Manufacturing is an important part of the current expansion, and we’re watching this stream carefully.
Of course, these receipts are reported as growth over the year and so are facing a tougher bar because of the recent recovery, but this is one of the reasons he describes his current outlook as “cautious.”
