Halloween stories of horror are usually tale tales, but the impact of inflation and high interest rates is unfortunately quite real. While President Biden continues to tout the success of his “Bidenomics” program, taxpayers continue to grapple with higher prices everywhere, sometimes being forced to decide whether they can afford food or heat for their homes, and trying to find some kind of bargain at the gas pump.
House Budget Committee Chairman Jodey Arrington (R-Texas) explained the horrifying household impact Bidenomics has had on families across the country in an Oct. 12, 2023, press release. The consumer price index in September increased by 3.7 percent, and the cumulative inflation rate increase under Biden is 17.1 percent. Bidenomics is forcing a family of four to pay an additional $15,133 per year, or $1,261 per month to purchase the same goods and services they bought prior to the administration’s massive multi-trillion-dollar spending spree.
Bidenomics has also pushed the nation further into the graveyard of mounting debt.
The Congressional Budget Office’s (CBO) September 2023 monthly report noted that the national debt is at a scary $33.5 trillion, and the fiscal year 2023 deficit is $1.7 trillion ($314 billion more than for the same period in fiscal 2022). CBO also noted that because fiscal 2023 ended on a weekend, some of the federal spending that would have occurred in fiscal 2023 was shifted to fiscal 2024. If the end of fiscal 2023 occurred on a weekday, the reported deficit would have been 28 percent larger for fiscal 2023 than in fiscal 2022, instead of 23 percent larger.
Rampant out of control spending is not only imposing massive debt on future generations, but also placing undue burdens on today’s taxpayers. According to the Tax Foundation, President Biden’s fiscal 2024 budget proposal would have increased new revenues by $4.5 trillion over the next 10 years by repealing some of the policies in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, reimplementing the Clinton-era tax brackets, reducing standard deductions, increasing capital gains rates and reducing the Child Tax Credit amount. The Tax Foundation projected that these tax increases would reduce after-tax income for all Americans.
These fiscal tricks would be devastating to not just families and businesses but also economic growth. The treat for taxpayers would be for the government to stop its profligate spending habits by cutting costs, eliminating wasteful, duplicative and ineffective programs, and ensuring that every dollar spent is used to achieve the statutory mission of every federal agency rather than increasing government control over every aspect of the economy. These proposals include the 543 recommendations in Prime Cuts 2023, which could save taxpayers $402.3 billion in the first year and $4 trillion over five years.
A new effort to get spending under control has been launched by Arrington and Budget Committee Member Jack Bergman (R-Mich.) in the Oversight Task Force. Bergman, who will chair the task force, said that they will focus on, “reining-in wasteful spending, right-sizing the bureaucracy, and unleashing economic growth through deregulation.” This effort to hold Washington accountable for how the taxpayers’ money is spent should shed light on why government spending is out of control, and aid in finding ways to reduce instead of increasing the financial burdens taxpayers face each day.
This Halloween, instead of worrying about ghosts and goblins, taxpayers should be afraid of the financial path our nation’s leaders have taken with their unbridled spending habits and the frightening impact of Bidenomics. It would be a sweet treat for everyone if the future could be turned away from the darkened path of financial despair on which the nation is currently headed.
Deborah Collier is vice president of policy and government affairs for Citizens Against Government Waste.