Economists agree that the Republican Party’s proposal to reduce public spending and implement tax cuts may not have a significant effect on reducing inflation in the US.
Inflation in the United States has not only become an issue that affects the pockets of millions of Americans, but rather the center of a political battle between the two great partisan poles of the United States: the Democratic Party and the Republican Party. The latter, in the midst of the contest, has blamed the country’s president, Joe Biden, for having caused prices to rise to levels not seen for forty years with the economic policy carried out by the federal government.
However, the Republican economic proposal, which consists of reducing public spending and making certain tax cuts permanent, as well as ending the increase in corporate taxes that were approved by law in August of this year, is not seen by economists as an efficient measure to reduce inflation in the short term.
Michael R. Strain, an economist at the conservative American Institute of Business, told The New York Times that “it is unlikely that any of the Republicans’ policy proposals will significantly reduce inflation in 2023, the year in which the Rapid price increases will still be a problem for the economy and consumers.”
According to a report in The New York Times, Republicans have stated that, unless President Joe Biden agrees to reduce public spending in the future, they will refuse to increase the debt limit of the United States, a central aspect of the US economy that is regulated by Congress, which is the political goal of the Republican Party for the upcoming elections in November (also known as midterms).
Although economists generally agree that public spending could affect inflation, cutting the national budget could significantly increase the federal deficit next year by about $90 billion, which could lead to an increase even faster interest rates by the Federal Reserve.
Likewise, this could add even a small percentage increase to annual inflation of 0.2%, according to economists consulted by The New York Times.
On the other hand, ending the Inflation Reduction Act could boost prescription drug costs for seniors with Medicare. This would include the cost of insulin. And it would have another collateral effect: the increase in electricity costs.
Donald Schneider, former Republican chief of economy, indicated that these cuts, however, could have a positive impact on investment and job creation.
The other side of the coin is that eliminating the Inflation Reduction Act and increasing tax cuts could increase inflation, said Jared Bernstein, a member of Joe Biden’s council of economic advisers, in an interview with The New York Times. In addition, the revision proposal by some members of the Republican Party regarding programs such as Social Security and Medicare have raised alarms in the US.