Lubbock Times

Today, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released a report titled “An Update About How Inflation Has Affected Households at Different Income Levels Since 2019.” This is an update to a report from September 2022. The updated report, requested by Senate Budget Committee Chairman Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), shows the cumulative inflation effects on households since 2019. However, this five-year cumulative look back, which lacks a year-by-year breakdown, blends the positive impacts of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) with the damaging economic and fiscal policies of the Biden Administration.

House Budget Committee Chairman Jodey Arrington made a statement on the CBO report's portrayal of Bidenomics’ effect on inflation: “Unfortunately, the nonpartisan CBO has turned partisan for the purpose of bolstering President Biden six months before an election. CBO’s recent report on inflation intentionally skewed the results to be more favorable to Biden by including the low inflation, high wage growth, economic benefits of 2019 and the large stimulus of 2020. A more credible analysis of President Biden’s economic performance would have only included the years President Biden was actually in office. Any objective analysis would’ve reflected the financial hardships facing everyday families and businesses."

Arrington continued: "Despite attempts to pad Biden’s economic numbers, whether it’s at the gas station or grocery store, Americans know all too well the cost of Bidenomics.”

The fiscal reality under Bidenomics is grim. After nearly four years of inflation, Americans have been forced to endure financial burdens.

Democrats are accused of obscuring President Biden’s harmful economy by linking it to gains incurred due to TCJA. TCJA was signed into law in December 2017. In 2018 and 2019, real GDP growth averaged 2.7 percent per year – compared to average growth of just 1.7 percent under the Obama Administration. Tax revenues reached record levels. In 2017, prior to TCJA, tax revenues were $3.3 trillion. Revenues then rose to an all-time high of $4.9 trillion by 2022.

However, with the Democrats’ American Rescue Plan and the so-called “Inflation Reduction Act” in 2022, which hiked taxes on businesses, changed the tax base, and handed out green tax credits indiscriminately, tax revenues declined to $4.4 trillion in 2023.

This CBO report blends years of low inflation and rising wages with Bidenflation, which began after the passage of the Democrats’ American Rescue Plan (ARP) in March of 2021.