Dear editor: Joe Biden was beaming at last week’s press conference. He made the absurd statement, “We reached a milestone, inflation in July was 0%, zero”.
Joe, that is a flat-out lie. While inflation may not have increased in July over June, it is still running at 8-9% over last year. That is not zero! Furthermore, the July Producer Price Index (PPI) rose in July to 140.43, up from138.88 for June, and from 126.30 from a year ago. The PPI is a precursor to future inflation. You could assume Joe just does not understand inflation in view of his many other gaffes. But it is more likely that he just wants to mislead the American public and paint a prettier picture for his administration.
This continues with the so-called Inflation Reduction Act which is clearly a misnomer for Democratic Party Tax and Spend. The University of Pennsylvania Budget model calculated “a very low level of confidence this bill will have any impact on inflation.” How could it? Pump an additional $430 billion into the U.S. economy with no corresponding growth in goods and services and we will have more inflation.
Add to that the cost of 87,000 additional IRS staff, and the inflation problem multiplies.
The 15% minimum tax on corporations will generate a predictable outcome; corporations will raise prices for their products. This is an additional boost to inflation and imposes a hidden tax on the middle class.
The non-partisan analysis concluded this bill raises taxes on the middle class with no meaningful deficit reduction.
The Joint Committee on Taxation concluded American Manufacturers will shoulder almost half of the corporate tax hikes, damaging the U.S. Economy and forcing more business overseas.
Joe’s campaign promises he will not increase taxes for anyone earning less than $400,00. Forget it, Joe lied.
The new tax law will collect an additional $16.7 billion from people with incomes less than $200,000. An additional $14.1 billion will be collected from people earning between $200,000 and 500,000, with at least 50% coming from those earning less than $400,000.
So, the Infrastructure Reduction Act has little to do with controlling inflation and more to do with business as usual in a Democratic-controlled Congress.
Gerry Giesler, Greensboro