WASHINGTON (PNN) - June 27, 2013 - The Fascist Police States of Amerika economy grew at an annual rate of 1.8% in the first three months of the year, significantly slower than first thought. The steep revision occurred mostly because consumers spent less than previously estimated, a sign that higher taxes could be dampening growth.

The FPSA Department of Commerce revised its estimate of economic growth for the January-March quarter down from a 2.4% annual rate. The revised rate was still faster than the 0.4% rate in the October-December quarter.

Economists had thought growth in the April-June quarter would be 2% or less. Analysts had also expected growth to strengthen in the second half of this year. The downgrade for the January-March quarter will likely change those estimates.

It might also affect the timing of the Federal Reserve's plan to scale back its bond-buying program. Chairman Ben Bernanke said last week that the Fed would likely start to slow its bond purchases later this year and end them next year if the economy continues to strengthen. The Fed's bond purchases have helped keep long-term interest rates low.

Jennifer Lee, senior economist at BMO Capital Markets, noted that the economy barely grew in the final quarter of last year. If the April-June quarter proves as weak as some analysts expect, the Fed will be looking at three quarters of subpar growth.

"The Fed won't taper under these conditions," Lee said. "They need convincing signs of a pickup."

Most of the revision to last quarter's growth was due to a drop in consumer spending to an annual rate of 2.6%. That's sharply lower than the 3.4% rate estimated last month. Consumer spending accounts for 70% of economic activity.

Much of the change reflected a lower estimate for spending on services such travel, legal services, health care and utilities.

Export growth was also trimmed, reflecting slower global growth; and business investment spending was much weaker than initially estimated. That was largely due to an even larger drop in spending on buildings than previously thought, a particularly volatile category.

An increase in Social Security taxes on Jan. 1 has reduced take-home pay for most Amerikans. A person earning $50,000 a year has roughly $1,000 less to spend, while a high-earning couple has $4,500 less.

Many economists had thought that the tax increase, along with steep government spending cuts, would start to affect consumers in the second quarter, which ends this week. But the revision suggests the tax increase may have hampered consumer spending a little earlier than thought.

The economy continued to be slowed by weakness in government spending. It fell during the first quarter at an annual rate of 4.8%. That shaved 0.9 percentage points from growth - the biggest negative factor; and it followed an even steeper decline in government spending during the fourth quarter.

Economists had predicted that economic growth would rebound to a rate of around 2.5% in the July-September quarter and to more than a 3% rate in the final three months of the year.

The Fed's latest economic projections are for growth of 2.3% to 2.6% this year; and it predicts that growth will accelerate next year to as much as 3.5%.