Morning Bell: Waxman-Markey an Energy Tax That Doesn’t Work
Nicolas Loris /
Later today, the House of Representatives is slated to vote on the most convoluted attempt at economic central-planning this nation has ever attempted: cap and trade. The 1,200-plus page Waxman-Markey climate change legislation is nothing more than an energy tax in disguise that by 2035 will raise:
- Gasoline prices by 58 percent
- Natural gas prices by 55 percent
- Home heating oil by 56 percent
- Worst of all, electricity prices by 90 percent
Although proponents of the bill are pointing to grossly underestimated and incorrect costs, the reality is when all the tax impacts have been added up, the average per-family-of-four costs rise by $2,979 per year. In the year 2035 alone, the cost is $4,609. And the costs per family for the whole energy tax aggregated from 2012 to 2035 are $71,493.
But on second thought, cap and trade is much more than that. (more…)