Consumer News: Americans spent more than expected in January, State lawmakers propose tax cut

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CNN– Inflated prices are rampant right now, but that doesn’t seem to be stopping Americans from spending. Americans shopped nearly twice the amount of what was expected for the start of the year. The Census Bureau report U.S. sales rose nearly 4% in January from the month before. Economists had predicted sales would only increase about 2%. It was also a reversal of December’s decline, when all the early holiday shopping left little for the last month of the year. Economists are hopeful that prices will come down after the early months of 2022, but that still remains to be unseen.

ASSOCIATED PRESS (AP)– South Carolinians could see some more money in their wallets sooner than expected, if lawmakers approve an income tax cut. The new proposal announced this week would accelerate Governor McMaster’s previous proposal by two years, and would immediately lower the tax rate for the 4%, 5% and 6% brackets to 3%, and lower the current 7% bracket down to 6.5%. Governor McMaster says this would bring a pay raise for everyone working for a living in South Carolina.