“Under the tax relief package that passed the House of Representatives with overwhelming support, job creators would have more resources to grow jobs while Americans would see real relief from the restoration of the Trump-era Child Tax Credit.”

WASHINGTON, D.C. – House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith (MO-08) released the following statement after the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for March 2024: 

“The Senate must take up and pass the Tax Relief for American Families and Workers Act to help Americans suffering under the worst inflation crisis in a generation. Today’s report shows that prices have risen almost 20 percent since Joe Biden became President and unleashed a tidal wave of spending that has made life unaffordable for so many. High prices, and the resulting financial pain from higher interest rates, are not going away anytime soon. Working parents and small businesses need relief from Bidenflation and the economic fallout from failed Democrat policies. Under the tax relief package that passed the House of Representatives with overwhelming support, job creators would have more resources to grow jobs while Americans would see real relief from the restoration of the Trump-era Child Tax Credit. Congress must listen to working families and provide immediate tax relief from Bidenflation.”

Key Background:

• Prices have increased 19.4 percent since President Biden took office.
• After inflation, wages have fallen 3.9 percent since President Biden took office.
• Inflation has become so deeply ingrained in the economy that core inflation (3.8 percent) is even higher than headline inflation and it is going up.
• Core inflation has now increased at an annualized rate of 4.8 percent for the past three months.
• Inflation outpaced wages for 26 straight months of Biden’s presidency.
• Mortgage rates reached a 23 year high of 7.8 percent in October. The average monthly mortgage payment has increased by $959 and is 85 percent higher than when President Biden took office in January 2021.
• The average monthly payment on a new car was a near record $735 in the latest calendar quarter, according to Edmunds, up nearly 30 percent since Biden took office. The average down payment was $6,682, up from $4,729 in Q1 of 2021.
• Credit card interest rates are at the highest level in nearly three decades, while consumer credit debt has reached an all-time high of more than $1.1 trillion, and the percentage of Americans struggling to pay credit card bills is now back up to the same level as during the worst part of the COVID-19 pandemic.