Cap-and-Trade Tax Hike Will Slam Missouri
May 26th, 2009
By Carl Bearden and Phil Kerpen
The surprise revenue source to pay for much of the Obama budget is something
known deceptively as “climate revenues,” also known as “cap-and-trade.” What
cap-and-trade really means is tax-and-spend at an unprecedented level and with
sweeping consequences throughout the economy, both nationally and here in
Missouri. It’s the worst kind of tax hike - a hidden tax hike, hidden behind a
complex regulatory scheme that only adds to the cost.
The size of the tax is a mystery. Companies know they have to pay a tax, but
nobody knows what the tax rate is because companies will be forced to bid at
auction for the government to allow it to use fossil fuels. The Obama budget
initially slated the cap-and-trade tax to generate approximately $646 billion
in revenue to the federal government over 8 years. More recently however, the
deputy director for the White House National Economic Council, Jason Furman,
reported that the tax scheme would actually raise two to three times that much,
running upwards of $1.3 to $1.9 trillion. The truth is nobody knows how much
this will cost, and that’s part of the problem.
We do know the impact on our economy here in Missouri would be staggering. An
analysis conducted by the highly-respected forecasting firm SAIC and
commissioned by the American Council on Capital Formation projected the
economic impact of last year’s version of cap-and-trade for Missouri. They
found that by 2020, with the bill in effect just 8 years, we would have: 23,000
to 34,000 fewer jobs, $900 to $2,800 in lower annual disposable income per
household, an annual hit to Missouri economy of between $2.7 billion and $3.7
billion, and much higher energy prices - 21 percent to 67 percent higher for
gasoline and 31 percent to 39 percent higher for electricity. The study also
found that lower-income families - people who are least able to absorb higher
energy costs - will be the hardest hit.
Those numbers are the impact of last year’s Lieberman-Warner version. We don’t
have number yet on Obama’s new proposal, but it is more extreme and would be
even more expensive.
These astonishing economic costs are not an unfortunate side effect of the bill
- they are its intended purpose. President Obama himself explained that passing
costs on to consumers is an important part of his plan when he explained to the
San Francisco Chronicle last year: “Under my plan of a cap and trade system,
electricity rates would necessarily skyrocket… whatever the plants were,
whatever the industry was, they would have to retrofit their operations. That
will cost money. They will pass that money on to consumers.”
What makes these costs even worse is that they don’t buy us anything of value
on the environmental side. Cap-and-trade is already failing to reduce emissions
in Europe. And even if emissions targets are met, climate models show that the
reductions would have no discernible effect on global average temperature. The
National Center for Atmospheric Research found that the Kyoto Protocol would
reduce global average temperature 0.07 degrees Celsius in 50 years and 0.15
degrees Celsius in 100 years.
Feel good symbolism is not worth trillions of dollars in higher energy taxes.
Climate change can only be effectively addressed with the luxury of wealth that
a free-market provides. That’s why it would be such a mistake to impose a
cap-and-trade, tax-and-spend scheme that would only undermine our prosperity.
This will ultimately be decided in the U.S. Senate, and we can only hope that
Sen. Claire McCaskill ultimately decides to vote “no” on cap-and-trade. The
health of our state and national economies may depend on it.
Carl Bearden is Missouri state director and Phil Kerpen is national director of
policy for Americans for Prosperity.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Today, we need a nation of Minutemen, citizens who are not only prepared to
take arms, but citizens who regard the preservation of freedom as the basic
purpose of their daily life and who are willing to consciously work and
sacrifice for that freedom." - John F. Kennedy
"Above all, we must realize that no arsenal, or no weapon in the
arsenals of the world, is so formidable as the will and moral courage
of free men and women. It is a weapon our adversaries in today's world
do not have." - Ronald Reagan
"Extremism in defense of liberty is no vice, moderation in the pursuit of
justice is no virtue." - Barry Goldwater
------------------------------------------------------------------------
NOTICE - This communication may contain confidential and privileged information
that is for the sole use of the intended recipient. Any viewing, copying or
distribution of, or reliance on this message by unintended recipients is
strictly prohibited. If you have received this message in error, please notify
us immediately by replying to the message and deleting it from your computer.
--~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~
This is a Free Speech forum. The owner of this list assumes no responsibility
for the intellectual or emotional maturity of its members. If you do not like
what is being said here, filter it to trash, ignore it or leave. If you leave,
learn how to do this for yourself. If you do not, you will be here forever.
-~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
