WASHINGTON—Earlier today, the Bureau of Labor Statistics released consumer price index (CPI) figures for the month of July, showing 3.2% inflation over the last year, with monthly inflation at 0.2%. Core inflation over the last year was 4.7%, more than twice the Federal Reserve’s 2% target rate. Since President Joe Biden took office, the CPI has risen 16%, an annualized rate of 6.1%.

Heritage Foundation public finance economist EJ Antoni issued the following statement in reaction to the July inflation numbers:

“While many preemptively cheered over the potential indication of slowing inflation in data from June, the July figures are helping to show the real story. Downward pressure on prices by the administration’s draining of the strategic petroleum reserve has ceased, causing oil prices to climb and bluntly hitting people at the pump during the busy summer travel season.”

“The CPI has risen so much faster than wages under Biden that the average American worker effectively paid a $4.62 an hour inflation tax in July. And yet, many components of the CPI are understating the realities faced by Americans, including housing. The monthly payment on a median price home today is twice what it was in January 2021.”

“Frustratingly for the American consumer, annualized monthly data over the last year shows that inflation has not been trending toward 2%, but 3%. We have arrived there, and there is no indication we will be going lower anytime soon because the federal government shows no signs of slowing its breakneck pace of spending and borrowing.”