Vermont’s revenue remain steady, state economist cites AI as major risk
MONTPELIER, Vt. —
Vermont’s top financial experts gave their bi-annual update on the state economy and revenue forecast Tuesday.
The update, which happens every six months, was presented to high-ranking lawmakers and Gov. Phil Scott.
Jeff Carr, an economist with the Vermont Agency of Administration said the state’s economy is in a good spot.
“We have now crossed the billion-dollar level of personal income withholding,” he said.
Vermont’s economist for the legislature Tom Kavet said that while the state can pay the bills he’s putting out a strong warning on Artificial Intelligence.
“You know there’s all this promise of AI and that’s a big thing that’s driving it, but there’s tremendous risk associated with that,” he said.
Kavet said Vermont along with the rest of the country, has reaped the benefits of the booming AI industry. However, he said AI remains a gamble.
“It’s a big bet. And the whole country’s in on this bet,” he said.
While Scott said he is happy about the revenue, on AI it’s a mixed bag.
“I do think that there needs to be some regulatory reform, to make sure that we’re doing this in a measured way, but it’s already getting ahead of us,” he said. “That’s something that, again, keeps me up at night.”
The economists said booming AI has helped to offset impacts from tariffs, immigration policy and the war in Iran. Representative Robin Schue (D-Middlebury) chairs a key state budget committee and said she worries about how long that offset will last.
“Whenever you have one industry holding up an economy, that’s something to pay attention to because we know it’s new, it’s growing and it’s not going to keep going that way,” she said.
The next revenue update is expected in January at the start of the new year.