People who are opposed to increased government spending because they are afraid of inflation sometimes claim ‘inflation is a tax.’ To help matters, here’s a list of things such people do and do not consider taxes.

Taxes:

1) a four to five percent inflation rate.

Not taxes:

1) Being unemployed due to insufficient government spending.

2) Being underemployed due to insufficient government spending.

3) Losing your job due to insufficient government spending.

4) Paying far too much for healthcare because preserving healthcare companies is considered an important policy goal.

5) Cutting Social Security payments by underestimating the future cost of living.

6) Slow wage and salary growth due to slack labor markets.

Time permitting, I’ll have more to say about why this is next week (hint: it has to do with a fundamental divide).