Rep. Ben Cline's doom and gloom message ("Inflation Reduction Act — the worst is yet to come," Roanoke Times, Aug. 12) appears with contradictions. He complains about both inflation and raising taxes.
Raising taxes is a way Congress and the president can fight inflation. In his subtle restatement of the Republican "tax and spend" mantra, the congressman omits an essential fact about the new tax laws: they increase taxes on incomes higher than $200,000 and will only impact the wealthiest 6.8% of American households.
Given that the median income in the 6th District is about $60,000, the congressman is telling his constituents that the Democrats are raising their taxes when they aren't. One would think extracting some wealth from super-rich city folks to provide jobs building roads and bridges in rural areas would appeal to many 6th District residents.
The new law also will raise taxes on oil companies that ratcheted up the gas prices this year and raked in billions of dollars in profits. Let's face it, fossil fuels are finite, and the country will gain about 12.5 million new drivers over the next five years. So, it makes sense to extract some of that questionably gotten gain and apply it to alternative energy like electric cars.