Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

LETTER TO THE EDITOR:

Tax cuts have boosted inflation

Inflation is nearing 6% this year and people are worried that it may continue to go up, returning us to the bad old days of double-digit inflation like we had in the 1970s and ’80s.

There are multiple causes. Republicans trying to blame President Joe Biden for this inflation point to the American Rescue Plan from this spring and the infrastructure plan that recently passed (and hasn’t yet put one penny into the economy). What they refuse to admit is that much of this inflation is the result of their tax cuts for wealthy Americans that has put $250 billion per year of stimulus money into our economy each year since 2018.

Economists of all stripes warned that putting that much stimulus into an already-growing economy was a mistake that would cause inflation to rise. Republicans were OK with inflation caused by tax cuts for the wealthy, but when the middle class shows up for the party looking for more jobs and higher wages, they decide it is time to take the punch bowl away.

If Republicans are serious about reducing the inflationary effects of stimulus spending, they could simply end former President Donald Trump’s tax cuts for the wealthy.