​Today, Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar revised the Certification Revenue Estimate (CRE) to project a fiscal 2021 ending shortfall of $4.58 billion which Hegar attributed to the COVID-19 pandemic and recent volatility in oil prices.

“Today’s update by Texas Comptroller Hegar on the budget shortfall shows the importance of reining in government spending without raising taxes as families across the state are struggling financially from the COVID-19 situation,” said TPPF’s Chief Economist Vance Ginn, Ph.D. “Fortunately, state leaders have already asked some agencies to find 5% savings to cover part of this shortfall, and we recommend that every agency use all efforts, including zero-based budgeting to find additional savings up to 15% by cutting wasteful and unnecessary spending. This would also alleviate the need for any more state bailouts from the federal government. By safely reopening Texas and getting people back to work and students in schools, the state will be best positioned to deal with any tax receipts shortfall while providing the best opportunities for Texans to flourish.”

The projection is a decrease from the $2.89 billion positive year-end balance originally projected in the Oct. 2019 CRE.
​

https://www.texaspolicy.com/press/budget-shortfall-highlights-importance-of-reining-in-government-spending-without-raising-taxes

Many states are demanding more money from the federal government to deal with the COVID-19 situation.

But providing even more bailout money to states would mean inappropriately supporting years of poor fiscal management and incentivizing unnecessary government lockdowns.

Ultimately, bailing out states means less money in our pockets at a time when many of us are struggling financially — and fewer opportunities for entrepreneurs to help conquer the effects of the novel coronavirus.

Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives recently passed the HEROES Act to spend more than $3 trillion in response to the COVID-based recession, with $1 trillion of that going to bailout states. And now the Republicans and the White House seem to be coalescing around a bill of about $1 trillion without state bailouts.

While we are discussing such large numbers, recall that the U.S. is $26 trillion in debt (roughly $80,000 owed by every American) or 130 percent of economic output, which is the highest since at least the Great Depression. Also, the federal government is likely to run at least a record of a $4 trillion deficit this fiscal year (about $10,000 per person).

In short, the government has no money to spend, and the House Democrats want to spend $3 trillion more that the federal government doesn’t have. And $1 trillion would be handed out to state and local governments, rewarding those who mismanaged their finances and the COVID situation.

Not only is this act a bailout — which is bad enough — but it far exceeds what’s needed.

According to the Tax Foundation, state governments are expected to have a tax receipts shortfall over this year and the next of at least $121 billion compared with a 2019 baseline due to the COVID-related recession.

In March, the CARES Act dedicated $150 billion to cover this potential shortfall. Total resources dedicated to state and local governments has been $1 trillion so far.

Fortunately, there are practical, responsible steps that states can take to weather this storm and to overcome potential shortfalls.

First, states must end lockdowns that force employers to close their business and workers to lose their jobs. Reopening society would revitalize the human ingenuity of entrepreneurs to not only better deal with the COVID situation through trial and error rather than one-size-fits-all policies but to also rehire workers. This would have the secondary effect of increasing tax receipts.

Second, states must restrain their spending, which is always and everywhere the primary source of budget shortfalls. This can be done by eliminating wasteful expenditures and freezing inflation-adjusted per capita spending to keep it within the means of taxpayers. Doing so will help the government from growing excessively and putting a higher tax burden on taxpayers, especially when they’re already struggling.

The other things that would provide a pro-growth environment to help Americans deal with this unfortunate health situation is for states to not raise taxes or regulations, and in fact, they should consider cutting them.

We can make it through this crisis without sacrificing the future. State and local leaders must make the hard choices for the good of their communities, and we must support and encourage them to be good stewards with our money.

And Congress should scrap their current strategy, which hasn’t worked well, and instead consider the Workplace Recovery Act to keep struggling businesses operating so employers and workers don’t lose their livelihoods while limiting excessive government spending.

By safely ending the lockdowns and responsibly budgeting our tax dollars, governments at all levels can help restore opportunities for us to pursue our hopes and dreams. Bailouts would only achieve the opposite.​

https://www.texaspolicy.com/heroes-should-congress-bail-out-states/

​(The Center Square) – Stimulus checks for Americans at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic made sense, but a potential second round could prevent some recipients from working and prolong fiscal recovery, an economist says.

“Ultimately what we’re for is people going back to work,” Vance Ginn, chief economist at the Texas Public Policy Foundation (TPPF), told The Center Square. “We need to find a responsible way to end the shutdowns, and find ways for people to get back to work, instead of having incentives to not go back.”

Another stimulus check for individuals and families has been discussed as part of the next phase of federal coronavirus relief.


“There may have been good reason for stimulus checks during the major part of the pandemic outbreak, but we think that time is over now,” Ginn said. “The stimulus check payment was put in place when many people were forced out of work, but now we’re looking at how to get people back to work and having businesses open.”

There are other ways to help people pay their bills and expenses, said Ginn, who formerly served as associate director for Economic Policy in the Office of Management and Budget at the White House.

The $600 weekly unemployment benefit that Congress included in the CARES (Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security) Act expires at the end of July, but people can still get state unemployment, which usually pays about 50 percent of what their weekly income was, Ginn said.

As short-term federal programs from the pandemic’s onset wind down, other proposals are under consideration to help businesses.

One is the Workplace Recovery Act, which addresses operational losses incurred during the government shutdowns.

“It would focus on replenishing net operating losses for businesses so they can stay in business,” Ginn said.

A payroll tax cut for employers and employees through the end of the year also would put more money in the pockets of workers, and incentivize businesses to grow because they would have lower costs and do more hiring, Ginn said.

Another key component to economic recovery is quelling fear.

“We need to deal with the pandemic situation in its full context,” Ginn said, “We don’t need to resort to lockdowns and closing society again because it would have a devastating effect on our lives and livelihoods.”

​https://www.thecentersquare.com/national/economist-going-back-to-work-will-lead-economy-forward-not-another-stimulus-check/article_de962a2a-bf8a-11ea-8319-ab8b6537a308.html

​As of February, the US is in a recession, and Texas is no different. While the cause is different than prior recessions, people’s financial struggles are the same.

With the voluntary social distancing and forced disruptions by state and local governments due to COVID-19, economic activity has collapsed, people have lost their jobs, and employers have lost their business. This economic recession means the state of Texas may face a shortfall in tax receipts compared with prior projections.

For example, the Texas Comptroller notes in a recent report that sales tax collections are the state’s biggest source of tax receipts, and they have declined greatly this year as many Texans are out of work, stuck at home, or simply adjusting their spending habits. The Texas budget will face a drop in oil-related taxes as well, as oil prices have fluctuated drastically in recent months.

When the Texas Legislature passed the 2020-21 budget last year, they could not have known the novel coronavirus and its effects. Now, Texas leaders must take action to adapt in these hard times.

In order to deal with a likely shortfall in tax receipts given the state’s balanced budget amendment, the state government can usually:

1) Raise taxes,
2) Use funds in the Economic Stabilization Fund (ESF), and/or
3) Lower government spending.

Raising taxes would only make the problems Texans face worse by raising the cost of living at a time when they’re already struggling financially.

Using the ESF is a viable option. However, with an expected total of $9 billion in the fund going into the 2021 Legislative Session and a sufficient fund balance needed for a high credit rating, there may not be too much to tap.

Therefore, the most responsible choice is to decrease government spending. Texas leaders have experience with this solution, and it can help to reignite the dynamic Texas economy.

In 2003, The Honorable Talmadge Heflin helped to navigate a $10 billion shortfall in tax receipts as Chairman of the Texas House Committee on Appropriations. Describing the success in 2003, Chairman Heflin wrote, “we dealt with the shortfall through targeted budget cuts and avoided raising taxes on already hard-pressed Texas families.” This is sage advice, and we would do well to follow it.

Then-Texas Governor Rick Perry adopted a budgeting strategy called “zero-based budgeting” that encouraged responsible spending. Further, the heads of state agencies and legislators worked together to find workable solutions for the budget gap. For example, 12 state agencies were consolidated into 5 agencies, and this effort saved taxpayers $1 billion.

Solutions are possible if our leaders are willing to work hard to make necessary changes.

While the big three Texas leaders have asked for some state agencies to find savings of 5% to cover some losses, the Foundation has called for all state agencies to find 15% in savings so there is shared sacrifice with Texas families, and their tax burden won’t increase.

There is a fourth consideration this time around as the U.S. Congress has provided federal funds to Texas through the CARES Act with $8.3 billion to state government and $3.1 billion to local governments. This means even more money is sloshing around, but the Legislature must not let federal funds be counted as permanent funds to the budget like some did in 2011 and then consider there to be cuts to government education or other programs when those funds dried up. There weren’t cuts to government education then but that false claim continues to scare people.

​We must work to rejuvenate the Texas economy and the lives and livelihoods of Texans by ending the government’s shutdown of society, rein in wasteful spending, and permanently roll back unnecessary regulations so families can flourish.

​https://www.texaspolicy.com/texas-can-weather-this-storm/

Could you have imagined, just a few short months ago when we had one of the best U.S. economies on record, that we would be facing one of the worst today?

It’s difficult to do.

But the disruptions caused by fear of COVID-19 and the shutdowns ordered by state and local governments have dramatically changed our lives — so much so that it’s difficult for many to have hope in a prosperous future. This recession should be called the Great Disruption.

But we can look to that roaring economic situation in February for guidance in finding the path to increasing our freedoms and flourishing now, no matter the circumstance.

This begins with responsibly ending the shutdowns ASAP.

We should look at the data and understand there is still a need to protect our vulnerable populations — but our kids should get back to school and us healthy adults should get back to work.

We take on risk every day, and even the shutdowns aren’t without risk. The data keep pouring in, demonstrating that in this case, the cure has been worse than the disease.

Researchers from top institutions looked at the data on fatalities related to COVID-19 and those losses of life from unemployment and missed health care due to the shutdowns. What they find is startling: “the disease has been responsible for 800,000 lost years of life so far” while the lockdowns are responsible for a conservative estimate of “at least 700,000 lost years of life every month, or about 1.5 million so far.”

In other words, the costs of the shutdowns on lost life-years is almost double that from COVID-19.

The value of life is hard to measure because each one is beautiful. That’s why it’s disturbing that the deaths from issues related to the shutdowns seem to be far exceeding those directly related to the disease.

Economist Casey Mulligan, who is a Professor at the University of Chicago and was recently the Chief Economist at the White House’s Council of Economic Advisers, has been tracking the daily cumulative costs of the COVID-19 pandemic at pandemiccosts.com.

Mulligan notes that these costs were at least $1.3 trillion in total, or $10,954 per household through May 22. This includes mortality costs and market and nonmarket costs of shutting down the economy.
And this is just through May 22.

Consider the lost economic output on an annualized basis of -5 percent in the first quarter of 2020 and of a projected record -40 percent in the second. Compare this with the growth we could have had if pro-growth policies in President Trump’s budget that I helped craft had been implemented, and that’s roughly $2 trillion in lost prosperity.

If you add the more than $9 trillion Congress has approved in financial assistance packages, then you’re talking about nearly half of the economy being redistributed in some capacity — in a very short period.

This is certainly the greatest disruption ever and the swiftest redistribution ever — both of which will cause massive distortions throughout our livelihoods, including for future generations, and will need to be corrected soon.

And now, states are asking for more federal bailouts (when they’ve already been authorized to get about $1 trillion).

Bailouts will only enable blue states to extend their costly shutdowns and continue their poor fiscal policies, which long predate the pandemic. Yet House Democrats are prepared to grant the states’ requests, as they have passed another $1 trillion in state bailouts in the HEROES Act.

We must not let this happen.

Let’s not let this COVID-19 crisis go to waste, though. Let’s learn from our mistake — shutting down the economy is a cure clearly worse than the disease.

What should the path forward look like? Responsibility, not restrictions. Social distancing, not shutdowns. And governments and civil society must be better prepared for major costly events.

​After ending the shutdowns, a way to ensure this is by passing the Workplace Recovery Act.

This Act would direct federal funds to assist any business that experienced losses due to the shutdowns out of their control. It would provide the operating cash businesses need to survive and employ workers. And while I’d prefer not one more dime be authorized, this proposal would work as a targeted automatic stabilizer until normality returns where businesses hire workers to not waste taxpayer money.

And if there’s a double-dip recession caused by shutdowns due to another wave of COVID-19, then Congress doesn’t need to pass more massive spending bills that bankrupt future generations. The WRA isn’t a silver bullet, but it will help give Americans confidence that no other legislation yet has.

We’ve had a natural experiment on how to deal with a pandemic. There were the best of intentions. But as Milton Friedman said, “One of the great mistakes is to judge policies and programs by their intentions rather than their results.”

The results show we have much to learn, but an important one is governments should never shutdown our freedoms again.

Vance Ginn, Ph.D., is Chief Economist at the Texas Public Policy Foundation in Austin, Texas. He is the former Associate Director for Economic Policy of the Office of Management and Budget at the Executive Office of the President.

https://thehill.com/opinion/finance/502518-we-must-learn-from-the-shutdown-mistake

​During most of my time at the White House over the last year, America was experiencing one of the best labor markets ever.

The White House called it a blue-collar boom. And they were right.

Then the Wuhan Virus changed everything. As Americans became infected, the resulting fear brought the dynamic blue-collar boom to a frozen standstill. Examining the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluations’ measure of mobility by state reveals that people started practicing social distancing well before state and local governments shut down society. Subsequently, official government-mandated shutdowns solidified the ensuing fear and economic destruction.

It’s important to know where we’ve been in order to know how we should proceed.

The first thing to note is that we should never shut down the economy again. This should not be a precedent; it should be a lesson about how families, employers, and state and local governments must be better prepared to deal with these types of economic downturns in the future.

Where were we in February 2020, before this catastrophe happened?

The Bureau of Labor Statistics’ total nonfarm jobs data shows there was a fantastic monthly average of 216,000 new jobs created for the three months through February. In only two months, the U.S. economy added 465,000 jobs—24,000 more jobs than the Congressional Budget Office projected for the entirety of 2020 in its final pre-2016 election forecast.

More than 7 million jobs had been added since the 2016 election–5 million more than the CBO’s pre-2016 projection. The robust job creation contributed to the unemployment rate dropping to just 3.5 percent—the lowest in 50 years. The last time unemployment was that low, Nixon was president, and the first man just landed on the moon. The lives of Americans have improved much in the last half-century.

During the boom, wages continued to rise faster than the general level of prices. And not only had income inequality declined, but wealth inequality was also declining, as the wealth of the bottom half increased three times faster than the top half.

After struggling through the Obama years, the manufacturing sector added more than 500,000 jobs during Trump’s tenure. Construction jobs also increased substantially more than pundits and many economists thought possible.

This was before the Great Disruption of COVID-19 and the government shutdowns that unsettled our lives and ruined the livelihoods of millions of Americans.

Starting down the road to recovery begins with understanding how reached those earlier peaks.

During his time in office, President Trump implemented a barrage of pro-growth policies. Tax cuts, deregulation, energy abundance, and reformed trade deals unleashed the immense capabilities of American ingenuity. The result was a level of human flourishing not seen in most people’s lifetime.

Many claimed during the Obama administration that slow growth and declining opportunities were to be the “new normal” for the U.S. economy. Yet in just a short three years under Trump, those claims were proven wrong. In place of the economic malaise under Obama, came a new institutional framework supporting increased freedom and a genuine chance for all Americans to prosper.

Pro-growth policies that support free markets and free people will help us climb out of the economic despair we’re mired in. Instead, unexpected, unfortunate events sent many asking for handouts from taxpayers.

When you combine what was passed in legislation directly to people or programs with the amount authorized to the Federal Reserve to leverage for funding opportunities, Congress gave them plenty—to the tune of more than $9 trillion. But this policy could very well lead to a deepening and extending of the economic downturn, similar to what we witnessed during the Great Depression and Great Recession of 2008.

Furthermore, we haven’t even spent it all. The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget estimates that more than $5 trillion hasn’t been allocated yet. Now is not the time to grant more requests for bailouts.

Research conducted by Casey Mulligan, Professor of Economics at the University of Chicago, shows that the costs of the pandemic and from the shutdowns have exceeded nearly $14,000 per household and the life years lost from increased unemployment and missed health care have been double those lost from COVID-19. Ultimately, the amount of fear Americans felt about the worrisome virus, along with the mixed signals from Congress, made the situation worse. We need to end the shutdowns before more damage is done.

If the pandemic hadn’t hit, the nation’s 130 million private-sector workers could have generated $16 trillion of income in 2020. Large sectors of the economy are reeling—from leisure and hospitality to retail, to manufacturing, to construction. Consider that if half of all private-sector workers and their employers are idled for three months, then $2 trillion in economic activity or 10% of GDP will be destroyed.

Unfortunately, most of the lost GDP will not be coming back, at least not very soon. It is reasonable to assume a return to a lower level of output and return to growth over time, in a check-shaped growth pattern as pent up demand and supply eventually get going again. But more importantly, the longer the shutdown lasts, the smaller the growth will be afterward as production will be inhibited with fewer employers in business and impacted supply chains.

This can change quickly, however, if we implement pro-growth policies. The path forward should consist of ways to get businesses operating and people back to work. One template for how to get this done is the recovery agenda advocated by the think tank I work for. By supporting the Workplace Recovery Act, suspending all payroll taxes, and permanently eliminating regulations that were suspended during the crisis, we can get the American economy roaring again.

For the sake of America’s future generations, we must get our fiscal house in order at all levels of government. We must impose strict fiscal rules that limit government spending, move to a less burdensome tax system, and reform welfare programs to build a system of opportunity and prosperity.

Ultimately, we need more freedom, not more government. Achieving this will allow us to soar back to the economic heights before this Great Disruption and much higher still. All we need is the political will to get it done.

Originally published in The Federalist

In this Let People Prosper episode, we discuss how we got to where we are today in our careers, which are driven by the desire to improve the well-being of people today and future generations. I'm thankful for their friendship and excellent work!

We discuss the need to rein in government spending so we can have the least burdensome tax system. Here's a write-up on what's going on with taxes and spending in Texas.

This conversation goes on a little longer than normal, but it's one that you don't want to miss a moment! 

Thank you for watching and sharing it with your family and friends.

​In this Let People Prosper show, we discuss a number of key topics. 

These include the opening night of The Endgame which we use it as an interesting twist to the nearing end of the 86th Texas Legislature's regular session. There are many things that should get done quickly to let Texans prosper. We discuss the genesis of the Right On Crime and Think Local Liberty campaigns at TPPF that have been extraordinarily successful. 

We also discuss the genesis of TPPF advocating for shifting to a more efficient, fair sales tax system from the burdensome property tax system. There's been more noise about this happening this session than likely ever before. We can't promise there will be more liberty and prosperity after this session, but we do promise that we're going to do everything we can to make that happen. Stay engaged!

In this Let People Prosper episode, we discuss the latest Tiger Woods victory and the start of the NBA Playoffs. We go on to discuss the Texas Legislature's latest on property tax reform and lack of spending restraint, key measures of reining in out of control local governments restricting liberty, and efforts to reform the criminal justice system so it punishes and rehabilitates people. 

​#letpeopleprosper

In this Let People Prosper episode, we discuss the key elements of real property tax cuts (slower growth rates and lasting tax reductions), movement afoot to eliminate civil asset forfeiture, and potential expansions in local liberty that are being discussed at the Texas Legislature. As we get closer to the end of session, these are critical aspects that you don't want to miss. 

​#letpeopleprosper

In this Let People Prosper episode, we discuss how to expand local liberty, reform the criminal justice system, and help people prosper by focusing on spending restraint at every level of government. Please watch and share this episode! 

​#LETPEOPLEPROSPER

In this Let People Prosper episode, we discuss the latest current events on the U.S. jobs report, efforts to increase liberty at the local level, reforming a broken bail system, and a path for the Texas Senate to make their version of the budget a Conservative Texas Budget​. 

#letpeopleprosper

In this Let People Prosper episode, we discuss ways to limit the leviathan (government) by using revealing more of government spending through efficiency audits, fighting back in the courts, and limiting the growth of the footprint of government to no more than the average taxpayer's ability to pay for it. 

#letpeopleprosper

The latest BLS state-level jobs report for February shows that Texas continues to lead the way in job creation for the last 12 months and keeps the state's near record low unemployment rate of 3.8%. Here's the statement by the Texas Workforce Commission. 

The presentation below provides an overview of Texas’ economic, labor market, and fiscal situation while also comparing Texas with other large states. There are also policy recommendations to strengthen the Texas Model of limited government so that it can foster more individual liberty and economic prosperity.

My prior research on how institutions matter takes a deeper dive into these figures. I recommend reading it along with watching my vlog on the subject. To summarize, Texas should increase economic freedom by eliminating unnecessary government barriers to competition to let people prosper.

Watch my explanation of previous state-level labor reports and other videos at my YouTube channel: Vance Ginn Economics. 

https://www.texaspolicy.com/blog/detail/texas-economic-labor-market-and-fiscal-situation ​

In this Let People Prosper episode, we discuss local government transparency and efforts to rein in progressive policies like government-mandated paid sick leave, state reforms to the criminal justice system, and the failure of the Texas House to pass a Conservative Texas budget...but there was a good discussion about property tax relief! 

​#letpeopleprosper

In this Let People Prosper episode, we discuss how to unveil government excess whether it be with pension obligation bonds, bail (register for upcoming TPPF event), occupational licensing burdens reduced for military spouses, TRS pension structural problems, and the Texas House budget that increases  far more than the average taxpayer's ability to pay. 

#letpeopleprosper

​In this Let People Prosper episode, we discuss issues related to responsible governing, like passing budgets that remain within the average taxpayer's ability to pay, local debt transparency, and criminal justice reforms where the time matches the offense. This is all essential to improving the Texas Model based on limited government that has long supported economic prosperity, as noted by today's state-level jobs report discuss.

#letpeopleprosper

In this Let People Prosper episode, we may have had our best show yet. You don't want to miss our discussion on increasing local debt transparency, paths to decreasing recidivism rates, the limitations of the Success Sequence, flaws with gun laws, excess spending in the Texas budget, and much more. 

​#letpeopleprosper

In this Let People Prosper episode, James Quintero, Chance Weldon and I discuss the Conservative Texas Budget related to SB 500; Teacher Retirement System (TRS) of Texas related to SB 12; superintendent pay reform in HB 880; local debt issues in HB 440, HB 477, and SB 30; and a legal case regarding child safety. 

​#letpeopleprosper

In this Let People Prosper episode, James Quintero, Derek Cohen, and I go over this week's key issues in the Texas Legislature. 

These include issues related to the following:

• Good criminal justice reforms in HB 64, HB 566, HB 691, and HB 1653;
• Good superintendent severance pay limitation in HB 880;
• Sunshine Week for government transparency highlighted in Quintero's Statesman piece;
• Bad bills related to expanding scope of occupational licensing in HB 1311, HB 1520, HB 1523, HB 1670, & HB 1675;
• Good reforms to land use discretion in HB 794, HB 1743, HB 1970, and HB 1978; and
  
• Overview of President Trump's FY 2020 budget that would help rein in government spending.

​#letpeopleprosper

​In this Let People Prosper episode, James Quintero, Dr. Derek Cohen, and I discuss today's release of reports on the U.S. and Texas jobs picture, movement on annexation reform (HB 347), and various issues related to criminal justice reforms (HB 63). Find more of TPPF's work at www.txlegehub.com. 

#LetPeopleProsper

In this Let People Prosper episode, James Quintero, Dr. Derek Cohen, and I discuss key bills regarding local liberty issues related to debt transparency (HB 440 & HB 477), criminal justice reform efforts, property taxes (HB 2, HB 705, HB 648), and teacher pay/retirement (SB 3/SB 393).

#LetPeopleProsper

In this Let People Prosper episode, James Quintero, Dr. Derek Cohen, and I discuss the following:

1. James highlights local debt transparency in SB 462;
2. Derek recaps hearing on over-criminilization and mentions reforming civil asset forfeiture in HB 404 and HB 1615; and
3. I provide an overview of my testimony against raising the minimum wage (written testimony & watch here at 2:53:00 mark) and note the upcoming House Ways & Means Committee hearing on HB 2 to lower the rollback rate to 2.5 percent and HB 705 to allow local governments to swap their property tax with a sales tax.  

Don't miss the upcoming Current Events Friday episode. #LetPeopleProsper