President Joe Biden’s “Inflation Reduction Act” will not be cutting consumer prices for working- and middle-class Americans “anytime soon,” the Washington Post admits.
Last week, House and Senate Democrats passed the $700 billion Inflation Reduction Act, which is set to spend billions on green energy projects as well as more funding for the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to hugely ramp up audits of American taxpayers.
Despite its name, the Post reports that the legislation will have a negligible impact on inflation that has squeezed working- and middle-class Americans over the last year.
“The legislation … won’t directly address some of the main drivers of surging prices — from gas and food to rents and restaurant meals,” the Post reports:
With inflation raging near its highest level in four decades, Congress is poised to approve President Joe Biden’s signature Inflation Reduction Act. Its title raises a tantalizing question: Will the measure actually tame the price spikes that have inflicted hardships on American households? [Emphasis added]
Economic analyses of the proposal suggest that the answer is likely no — not anytime soon, anyway. [Emphasis added]
The latest federal data shows that the Producer Price Index, the prices charged by American businesses, was up 9.8 percent in July compared to the same time last year. In May, groceries cost Americans 11 percent more than they did in 2021 — a 42-year high.
A motorist pumps gasoline at a United Oil gas station in Los Angeles Friday, Aug. 12, 2022. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)
Most recently, the Biden administration has bragged about bringing down the price of gasoline for American consumers to about $3.99 a gallon even as gasoline under former President Trump was less than $2.40 a gallon when he left office.
While the Post reports that Biden’s legislation will not have much of an impact on consumer prices, the plan is expected to squeeze tens of billions from working-class and middle-class Americans via IRS audits.
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) reveals that the legislation’s $80 billion for new IRS audits will take at least $20 billion from working- and middle-class Americans earning less than $400,000 a year. These billions are in addition to the billions already taken from this income group.
John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Email him at jbinder@breitbart.com. Follow him on Twitter here.
