Inflation hit a three-year low last month, just as the presidential election is heating up.But the high cost of housing and other necessities will keep the economy central to both of the major campaigns, as seen in the first debate between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump.The Consumer Price Index, a measure of inflation, rose 2.5% in the past year, which is the smallest jump since February 2021, according to the latest Bureau of Labor Statistics data released Wednesday. The main driver of this increase was shelter, which moved up 0.5% in August. Airline fares, car insurance, education, and apparel also rose that month. But wages also rose 0.4% in August and 3.8% over the past year, and the average workweek increased by 0.1 hour — welcome news for workers trying to keep up with the cost of living.Voters continue to say the economy is key in deciding who should be president, at 81%, and four in 10 say the economy and inflation are the most important issues guiding that decision.Trump, the former president and Republican nominee, blamed the Biden administration for high prices early on during the debate in Philadelphia, falsely claiming the postpandemic wave of inflation is the worst ever.“We’ve had a terrible economy because inflation, which is really known as a country buster, it breaks up countries, we have inflation like very few people have ever seen before, probably the worst in our nation’s history,” Trump said.The worst inflation rate in U.S. history was actually in 1980, at 14%. The current wave – the highest inflation spike since then – peaked at 9.1% in June 2022.Democratic nominee and Vice President Harris responded to a question about the economy by touting tax cut proposals to combat housing costs.“The cost of housing is far too expensive for far too many people. We know that young families need support to raise their children and I intend on extending a tax cut for those families of $6,000, which is the largest child tax credit that we have given in a long time so that those young families can afford to buy a crib, buy a car seat, buy clothes for their children,” she said.Harris also pitched a proposal for a $50,000 tax deduction for small startup businesses.Taylor St. Germain, an economist at ITR Economics, a nonpartisan economic research and consulting firm based in New Hampshire, said the latest data shows inflation is ...
