This is the Stealth Tax I’ve written about before. We did a search and very sadly I’ve written about this six times over the last 30 months. Sorry it seems to be a broken record! Here’s my previous writings:
12/10/2020 The Stealth Tax
5/13/2021 They’re Coming For You – We Are Broke!
9/23/2021 Only 39% Pay It All – You Have Giant Target Painted On Your Back
9/30/2021 Government Ineptitude – Can I Rant A Bit?
12/2/2021 Disney Tickets for $3.50 – Have You Planned for The Stealth Tax?
8/04/2022 Which Is Easier to Fix, Recession or Inflation?
This recent Forbes article shows how devastating inflation is to each of us as Americans and additionally describes signs of consumer burn out. Savings are down and credit card balances have increased dramatically because of the ongoing damage caused by inflation. Inflation is a silent killer of finance. It is a Stealth Tax that the government puts on the American people because they are so poor at managing their fiscal affairs.
From the article, “One trillion dollars is an unfathomable number to translate into real terms. It is equal to 1000 billion or a million times a million. A stack of a trillion one-dollar bills would stretch nearly 68,000 miles into space. If laid end to end, they’d reach further than the distance from the Earth to the sun. It takes nearly 32,000 years to count down one trillion seconds.”
Inflation may help our government pay off the national debt by reducing the real value of the debt over time. But it comes at a great cost by reducing the purchasing power of money. If inflation increases, the value of the national debt will decrease in real terms, since the government will be able to pay back the debt with money that will be worth less in the future.
The “stealth” that remains hidden to the public; as prices increase due to inflation, our government collects more tax revenue even if they don’t raise tax rates, effectively taxing our people more without them realizing it. This extra revenue can be used to pay off the national debt but will probably be used for a myriad of other government programs.
Inflation can have other negative consequences, such as devaluing the currency, decreasing the real value of wages and eroding people’s savings and investments.
Even with the government changing how inflation is calculated on March 1, 2023, inflation still remained above six percent. It doesn’t take long to destroy the purchasing power of your money at that rate.
Hopefully inflation is not changing your lifestyle as you enjoy your 2ndHalf. Many of you have told me you see it in your regular shopping.
For many it will have a devasting effect. More than likely many of our children will be caught up in this insidious process and enjoy less of a lifestyle than we (and they) have hoped for.
There are solutions to this dilemma that are not talked about enough.
If you’re unable to retrieve this article, let us know and we’ll send you a copy.
