Gear Up The Cap-N-Trade Tax Madness, Too

There's so much major stuff going on now that it's enough to make your head spin. As if surrendering to the world, destroying the economy, and taking over health care weren't enough, the liberal Leftist leadership in Congress is also taking on cap-n-trade. I'll have much more on this in the future, but here's a taste of the current version of madness that's heading our way:

Senators Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) and John Kerry (D-Mass.) introduced the Senate companion to the Waxman-Markey climate change legislation today and while many pieces are missing, the framework in place spells bad news for every American energy consumer, especially low income ones.

Like Waxman-Markey, the focus is a cap and trade system, but takes the House bill’s 17 percent reduction of 2005 emissions by 2020 to a more stringent 20 percent cut. Unlike the House version, which gives away emission allowances to special interests groups that lobbied hard to protect their bottom line, the Senate draft does not include how the emission allowances – hundreds of billions of dollars - will be given away.

Co-sponsor Senator Kerry tells us, “This is not a cap-and-trade bill, it’s a pollution reduction bill.” But the simple reality is it’s an energy tax bill. As OMB director Peter Orszag says, “Under a cap-and-trade program, firms would not ultimately bear most of the costs of the allowances but instead would pass them along to their customers in the form of higher prices.” And the bill’s incompleteness goes to show how impatiently Kerry and Boxer are trying to move a historic energy tax into law.

Like everything else the liberal Left has done since January. The longer this thing sits under a public spotlight, the less popular it's going to be because it's nothing more than a gigantic energy tax. Remember, Barack Obama has promised that his energy plan would cause energy prices to 'skyrocket', and he also promised to bankrupt the coal industry through higher costs.

Ironically, it is the poor who will suffer the most from this Democrat plan. Why? Because they spend a higher percentage of their resources on energy costs:

“Households in the lowest-earning quintile—those earning less than $18,370 per year—would pay $451 per year or a substantial 4.5 percent of their income. This additional tax upon these households would be larger than every other tax they currently pay, except the federal payroll tax, which costs an average of $656 per year, and would be roughly equivalent to a 69 percent increase in the federal payroll tax on these households”

The Senate version also funnels a bundle of money to the same kind of green jobs that are currently destroying Spain.

Basically, if this goes into law, we can assume 10% unemployment is just the beginning.

And, of course, certain favored companies are going to experience a, shall we say, major financial windfall if it goes through. Why is it that these enormous Democrat bills always contain billions and billions of taxpayer dollars in pork?

The key thing to remember is that we have only once chance to stop this disastrous bill. The House has already passed its own version, so if the Senate passes one, too, it will become law.

The good news is that it's not a given, despite Kerry's confidence. The GOP will likely oppose it, maybe even unanimously. Even some Dems are likely to defect. Will it be enough? Only time will tell.

Bottom line: don't wait to get involved on this one. Call your Senators and share your thoughts on this critical issue.

There's my two cents.


Related Reading:
All previous posts on the House's cap-n-tax bill
A pollution reduction bill
Liberal Senators dodge tough climate votes