As the old cliché states, numbers don’t lie. While some experts are still wary about the recovery of the U.S. economy, this year’s statistics from the National Retail Federation regarding Americans’ plans for their tax refund offer optimism.
1. Compared to last year’s number of 12.5 percent of Americans planning on spending their refund on a larger-ticket item, this year’s 13.2 percent shows promise. This is the highest percentage in the last four years.
2. More good news and indicators for consumers spending their tax refund money was the percentage planning on putting their funds toward a vacation. This category went up almost two percentage points going from 10 percent in 2010 to 11.9 percent this year. However, the numbers still haven’t reached pre-recession numbers in this segment.
3. Close to 29.7 percent will choose to spend their refunds on everyday items. This is up almost one percentage point from 28.8 percent from last year. This is also the highest number in the last four years.
With these numbers in mind, retailers still have a long road to recovery as the economy slowly emerges from the recession, but it does give hope that the recovery has already begun.
Source: cnbc.com, February 2011
