Shops along Fountain Square in Bowling Green, Kentucky 2008 by OPMaster is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0

Rampant inflation under the Biden economy is forcing small business owners to raise prices at a record high, according to the National Federation of Independent Business’s (NFIB) Small Business Optimism Index.

According to the survey, 72 percent of owners are raising their prices, the highest reading ever recorded in the survey’s history. The culprit is the Biden economy with soaring inflation, trillions in wasteful government spending, and the threat of massive tax hikes.

The NFIB survey found that under President Biden’s leadership small businesses are struggling and lack confidence that business conditions will increase: 

  • 49 percent of business owners expect better business conditions over the next six months, the lowest level recorded in the 48-year-old survey. 
  • 47 percent of owners reported job openings that could not be filled. 
  • 72 percent of owners are raising prices, the highest reading in the survey’s history. 
  • 35 percent of business owners that have reported lower profits blamed the rise in the cost of materials. 
  • 40 percent of owners report that supply chain disruptions have had a significant impact on their business. 

This should note be surprising. In March inflation soared to a four-decade high of 8.5 percent.

In January of 2021, prior to President Biden taking office, inflation was a mere 1.4 percent. Democrats’ massive spending programs, like the ones found in the American Rescue Plan, have pushed consumer prices higher and higher. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, we have seen the costs of countless goods increase at record rates. For example, chicken has gone up 13.4 percent, energy has gone up 32 percent, and gasoline has gone up 48 percent. Additionally, Democrats reckless federal spending has caused real wages to decrease by 2.7 percent over the past year. 

Even though American consumers and small businesses are hurting, President Biden’s 2023 budget proposal includes a total of 36 new tax hikes totaling $2.5 trillion and trillions more in new spending. These spending increases will only exacerbate inflationary pressures while the tax increases will hit American families and businesses that are still trying to recover from the pandemic. 

The budget includes the repeal of important tax provisions that help energy companies invest and create jobs. These provisions are long-standing bipartisan deductions and credits that are meant to promote American energy independence and support manufacturing jobs. Repealing these provisions will harm American energy companies and increase their costs in a time where we are already seeing drastically high energy prices. 

The cancellation of the Keystone XL Pipeline also contributed to the rising energy costs that we are seeing take their toll on small businesses across the country. The project was expected to carry about 830,000 barrels of crude oil per day yet was halted early on in Biden’s first year in office. 

Biden administration policies are also responsible for small businesses struggling to find enough workers. The NFIB survey noted that 47 percent of owners reported job openings that could not be filled. Extended Federal unemployment benefits pushed over the past 2 years coupled with delaying student loan payments have incentivized people to stay home and collect a government check rather than return to work.