Inflation: A Stealth Tax Masquerading as Policy

The Core Argument: Inflation as Government Theft George Ford Smith doesn’t mince words: he calls inflation a “stealth tax” that erodes your purchasing power without legislation, vote, or oversight. Instead of taxing you outright, the Federal Reserve expands the money supply—giving the government more spending power while devaluing every dollar you hold. That devaluation is measurable: between 2021 and 2022, the purchasing power of a dollar declined by about 7.4 percent due to inflation, meaning a dollar in 2022 bought only about 92.6 percent of what it could the year before. In this light, many critics argue that inflation as government theft isn’t just rhetoric but a lived reality, as rising prices quietly strip value from savings, wages, and fixed incomes across…