Will inflation act do much about prices?

Is the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 actually going to reduce inflation?

That's our Question of the Week for readers.

Of course, the legislation, passed by the Senate on a latenight party-line tie vote broken by Vice President Kamala Harris, raises many more questions than just its potential effect on the skyrocketing inflation that is buffeting the nation and much of the world this summer.

Democrats say the act contains “provisions that will lower health care and prescription drug costs, invest in clean energy and reduce carbon emissions and the national deficit, while creating and sustaining millions of jobs for Americans.” That's how they say the act will (in the medium term) reduce inflation: by lowering the deficit and, for many, capping expensive pharmaceutical drug costs.

Republicans say that spending on green projects and other outlays will actually increase inflation.

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimates that it would have a “negligible effect on inflation,” and in 2023 “it would change inflation somewhere between 0.1 percentage point lower and 0.1 percentage point higher than it is currently.”

What do you think will be the act's effect on the highest inflation rates in decades?

How do you think the IRA will affect the nation's economy overall?

While individual tax rates won't be increased, the act mandates a 15% corporate minimum tax rate, and makes stock buybacks by corporations face a 1% excise tax. Does that make taxation fairer?

What of the act's increases in the budget for the IRS, allowing the taxing agency to hire many more agents? Is that a good idea? Or did the Democrats miss a bet by not taking Republicans' suggestion that increased tax enforcement be aimed at the wealthy and not the affluent middle classes? Will more agents mean more audits of everyday Americans?

Does the fact that all Democrats voted for the bill and all Republicans against show that both parties view showing any support for the other side to be a zero-sum game?

Email your thoughts to opinion@scng.com. Please include your full name and city or community of residence. Provide a daytime phone number (it will not be published).