I suspect the political appeal of this would be limited because inflation doesn't hit everyone to the same degree - and there's not way to control that degree o

I suspect the political appeal of this would be limited because inflation doesn't hit everyone to the same degree - and there's not way to control that degree of impact. With taxes and spending you can far more easily pick out who you're hurting and who you're helping. Those tools are knife while what you're suggesting is for politicians to use a rock. Also as a practical matter having the government need to raise taxes to pay for spending is a (for government any way) relatively immediate form of feedback. Taxes go up and those who are taxed start complaining right when they hear what the tax bill will be. Inflating costs is imprecise - the "cost" comes on slowly and the "fix" for it - almost always raising interest rates is very painful and happens very quickly. So painful that politicians have historical needed a buffer - an appointed federal reserve in the US - to actually do it.