To the Editor:

Our tax-and-spend liberals are at it again. No sooner did we reach the highest inflation levels in decades, our Democratic Congress and White House have decided to pour more fuel to the inflationary fires by passing the $740 billion so-called Inflation Reduction Act. The Congressional Budget Office has come out and said that the provisions of the bill will have less than 0.1% effect on inflation in either direction. Even Bernie Sanders, arguably the furthest left-leaning socialistic liberal in Congress, has slammed the act for not living up to its name.

Biden is claiming that there will be no new taxes on any American making less than $400,000 per year, yet according to the Congressional Joint Committee on Taxation, nearly all Americans would see increased taxes by 2023. An analysis using the Tax Foundation’s General Equilibrium Model estimates that the Inflation Reduction Act would reduce long-run economic output by about 0.2% and eliminate about 29,000 full-time jobs in the United States. It would also reduce average after-tax incomes for taxpayers across every income level over the long run. By reducing long-run economic growth, this bill will actually increase inflation by constraining productive capacity.

Biden claims that the cost will be borne primarily by corporations in the form of a 15% minimum corporate tax rate and raising billions in taxes on oil and gas. It’s ridiculous and naive to assume that these increased corporate taxes are not going to be passed along to consumers in the form of increased prices and/or lowered wages. More inflation.

While there may be some beneficial provisions in this bill, calling it the Inflation Reduction Act while it does nothing to reduce inflation is just a PR stunt to cover up the continuing shortcomings of this administration. Last week, Biden said that the July inflation rate was 0% while in actuality it was 8.5%, yet the mainstream media continues to heap praise on the job he’s doing. I hope that Americans are savvy enough to see through this smoke screen when the midterm elections come.

DeVere Headrick

Oswego