News of the Day

Starting Sunday, January 22, the USPS plans to increase prices of some postage by 4.2%, which generally amounts to a few cents per stamp. The cost of a Forever stamp would go up 3 cents, from 60 cents to 63 cents – the third price hike in about a year.

Forever stamps, regardless of when they are purchased, will be accepted in perpetuity – hence the name. That means if you have some already, even if you bought them at a lower price, they will still be accepted to mail letters next year and the year after that. It also means you can buy stamps in bulk now to avoid paying more after January 22.

The USPS is also increasing the cost of sending Priority Mail by about 5.5%. Priority Mail Express will get 6.6% more expensive, and First-Class Package Service prices are set to increase by 7.8%. Priority Mail commercial rates will bump up about 3.6%.

At the same time, the cost of some Priority Mail shipping materials, including flat-rate envelopes and boxes, will go down. Using a flat-rate box or envelope lets you send a package of up to 70 pounds to any U.S. state for a flat fee.

A constitutional amendment proposal to reform Wisconsin’s cash bail system is now headed to voters in April’s election.

Following the Republican-controlled Senate’s approval of the measure earlier this week, the GOP-dominated Assembly on Thursday passed the resolution. The measure passed 73-22, with 10 Democrats joining Republicans in support.

Under the amendment, judges would be able to consider the “totality of the circumstances” in setting bail— including the seriousness of the crime, previous convictions of the accused and the need to protect the community from serious harm. Currently, they can use only one factor: the likelihood a defendant will show up to his court date.

“Violent criminals should not be given unspoken approval by the system to repeatedly victimize our communities,” said Rep. Cindi Duchow (R-Delafield), who authored the proposed amendment. “Judges and law enforcement officers see the revolving door of arrests, low bail, release, and re-arrest, and they are asking for change.”

It takes passage in two consecutive legislative sessions to send a constitutional amendment question on to voters. Thursday’s vote marked the final passage needed to send the question to the voters.

U.S. retailers and restaurants made $677.1 billion in sales in December, down 1.1 percent from a revised November sales total of $685 billion, according to the Census Bureau. It was the second consecutive monthly decline in retail sales, which are adjusted for seasonal shifts but not inflation.

“The final retail sales report of 2022 was the weakest of the year,” Kayla Brunn, an economic analyst at Morning Consult, wrote in a Wednesday analysis.

When adjusted for inflation, “retail sales declined year-over-year – a development that is especially disappointing given that last December was being impacted by the spread of the omicron variant,” Brunn wrote.

The steady drop of gasoline prices in December drove part of the overall slump in retail sales last month. Sales at gasoline stations fell 4.6 percent last month even amid the rush of holiday travel, as lower global demand and easing energy supply constraints helped bring down prices at the pump.

Department stores also took a serious hit last month despite the promise of the holiday shopping season, with sales plunging 6.6 percent. Sales at furniture and home goods stores, auto dealers, clothing stores, electronics and appliance stores, and restaurants also fell in December.

Only sporting goods and hobby stores, building material and supply stores, and grocery stores saw sales increase in December.

Prices for wholesale goods and services fell sharply in December, providing another sign that inflation, while still high, is beginning to ease.

The producer price index, which measures final demand prices across hundreds of categories, declined 0.5% for the month, the Labor Department reported Wednesday.  Excluding food and energy, the core PPI measure rose 0.1%, matching the estimate.

For the year, headline PPI rose 6.2%, the lowest annual level since March 2021 and down considerably from the 10% annual increase in 2021.

A sharp drop in energy prices helped bring the headline inflation reading down for the month. The PPI’s final demand energy index plunged 7.9% on the month. Within that category, wholesale gasoline prices fell 13.4%.

The final demand food index also fell, declining 1.2%.

Inflation readings ahead could be less certain, though, as the cost for a gallon of gas is up about 21 cents from this time last month, and crude oil prices have risen about 1.6% so far in January.

Still, the general trend in inflation has been slightly lower. The consumer price index decreased 0.1% in December, though it was still up 6.5% from a year ago – 5.7% excluding food and energy. CPI gauges the prices that consumers pay at the marketplace, while PPI measures what business pay for goods and services.

Republican legislative leaders on Friday introduced a proposal to seek input from voters on whether to require able-bodied, childless adults to look for work in order to receive government assistance.

If approved, the question would be placed on the April ballot as an advisory referendum — a vote that is informative as a measure of public opinion but is not legally binding.

The proposal, a joint resolution that requires passage by both chambers of the Legislature, does not require the governor’s approval. That’s key as Democratic Gov. Tony Evers would be all but certain to reject it.

The resolution — introduced by Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu, R-Oostburg, and Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester — would place this question on the ballot: “Shall able-bodied, childless adults be required to look for work in order to receive taxpayer-funded welfare benefits?”

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on Friday notified Congress that the U.S. government will reach its statutory debt limit next Thursday.

After that, the Treasury Department this month will begin “taking certain extraordinary measures to prevent the United States from defaulting on its obligations,” Yellen wrote in a letter to new House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif.

The Treasury “is not currently able” to estimate how long those emergency actions will allow the U.S. to pay for government obligations, she wrote.

But, “It is unlikely that cash and extraordinary measures will be exhausted before early June,” Yellen added.

Congress in December 2021 increased the federal debt limit to about $31.4 trillion.

Yesterday, the Internal Revenue Service today announced Monday, January 23, 2023, as the beginning of the nation’s 2023 tax season when the agency will begin accepting and processing 2022 tax year returns.

More than 168 million individual tax returns are expected to be filed, with the vast majority of those coming before the April 18 tax deadline. People have three extra days to file this year due to the calendar.

The filing deadline to submit 2022 tax returns or an extension to file and pay tax owed is Tuesday, April 18, 2023, for most taxpayers. By law, Washington, D.C., holidays impact tax deadlines for everyone in the same way as federal holidays. The due date is April 18, instead of April 15, because of the weekend and the District of Columbia’s Emancipation Day holiday, which falls on Monday, April 17.

Taxpayers requesting an extension will have until Monday, October 16, 2023, to file.

The Labor Department said Thursday that the consumer price index, a broad measure of the price for everyday goods including gasoline, groceries and rents, fell 0.1% in December from the previous month. Prices climbed 6.5% on an annual basis.

It marked the slowest annual inflation rate since October 2021 and the slowest monthly rate since April 2020, at the height of the COVID-19 lockdowns. Still, inflation remains about three times higher than the pre-pandemic average, underscoring the persistent financial burden placed on millions of U.S. households by high prices.

Core prices – which strip out the more volatile measurements of food and energy – climbed 0.3% in December from the previous month, up from 0.2% in November. From the same time last year, core prices jumped 5.7%. Those figures were also in line with economists’ expectations.

Rent costs jumped 0.8% over the month and 8.3% on an annual basis. Rising rents are a concerning development because higher housing costs most directly and acutely affect household budgets. Another data point that measures how much homeowners would pay in equivalent rent if they had not bought their home, climbed 0.8% from the previous month.

Gov. Tony Evers said Tuesday he’s confident his administration will find enough common ground with the Republican-controlled legislature this year to end one of the state’s oldest taxes.

Businesses across Wisconsin pay the personal property tax on equipment such as furniture, equipment and fixtures.

Republican lawmakers are circulating a bill at the Capitol that would eliminate the tax. Evers, who was visiting Watertown Tuesday, told reporters he also wanted to get rid of the tax and was optimistic the legislature will iron out the wrinkles that caused him to veto the bill in 2021.

“We should be able to get through that this session,” Evers said. “There was some minor things that were of concern. It’s my understanding they have been addressed, and so I would anticipate we will be in good shape there.”

Detractors of the tax say it’s unfair because businesses already pay a sales tax when purchasing the equipment. The Wisconsin Grocers Association is among the business groups lobbying for the tax to be eliminated.

“Those small, mom-and-pop retailers are gonna have to categorize, they’re gonna have to track each one of these assets, and then pay tax on it every single year,” Mike Semmann, the association’s vice president of government affairs said. “That’s something that we’re hoping goes away pretty quick.”

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said Tuesday it would be “inappropriate” for the central bank to plunge itself into the fight against climate change.

“Without explicit congressional legislation, it would be inappropriate for us to use our monetary policy or supervisory tools to promote a greener economy or to achieve other climate-based goals. We are not, and will not be, a ‘climate policymaker,’” Powell said Tuesday.

Powell argued that going beyond the Fed’s basic mandate of stable prices and maximum employment would “undermine the case” for the bank’s independence from Congress and the White House, which allows it to raise and cut interest rates without approval from elected officials.

“It is essential that we stick to our statutory goals and authorities, and that we resist the temptation to broaden our scope to address other important social issues of the day,” Powell said.