Cap and Trade Top Ten List
- Cap and Trade Is a Massive Energy Tax.
- It Will Not Make A Substantive Impact on the
Environment.
- It Will Kill Jobs.
- It Will Cause Electricity Bills and Gas Prices to Sharply
Increase
- It Will Outsource Manufacturing Jobs and Hurt Free
Trade
- It Will Make You Choose Between Energy, Groceries, Clothing,
and Haircuts
- It Will Be Highly Susceptible to Fraud and
Corruption
- It Will Hurt Senior Citizens, the Poor, and the Unemployed
the Worst.
-
It Will Cost American Families Over $3,000 a Year.
- President Obama Admitted "Electricity Rates Would
Necessarily Skyrocket" under a cap-and-trade program (January
2008)
What Would Global Warming Regulations
Do?
- Lieberman-Warner: Last year, the Senate rejected
cap-and-tax legislation that would have capped CO2 emissions 70%
below 2005 levels by 2050. A Heritage analysis of that bill found
startling economic impacts.
- Markey-Waxman: The cap-and-trade tax proposed by Rep.
Henry Waxman (D-CA) and Rep. Edward Markey (D-MA) would double down
on last year's failed scheme, bringing in trillions of dollars in
taxes, making it one of the largest sources of revenue for the
federal government.
- Six Hundred Hurricanes Couldn't Cause This Much Economic
Damage: In the first 20 years, Lieberman-Warner would have
destroyed nearly 3 million jobs, caused some manufacturing sectors
to cut jobs by 50% and generated up to $300 billion per year in
government revenue while reducing income by nearly $5 trillion. For
comparison, this is equal to the economic damage done by over 600
hurricanes...and the Markey-Waxman bill is worse.
- Green Jobs Are a Myth; Real Job Losses Are Not: For
every "green job" created, others are wiped out. Job losses
resulting from the Lieberman-Warner cap and trade would have
surpassed 900,000 in some years. Keep in mind that this is net of
any "green jobs" created.
- New Version, More Expensive: Markey-Waxman will be much
more costly than the bill rejected by the U.S. Senate last year.
Such an expensive tax on all Americans is bad under normal
circumstances and worse during a recession.
A "Carbon Constrained Future"
- The Ultimate Outsourcing: India and China have
repeatedly said they would not match U.S. environmental goals in
order to protect their economies. Cap and trade will merely move
manufacturing jobs to China and India.
- By 2100: By EPA calculations, the Lieberman-Warner bill
could at best result in a global drop in temperature of only 0.1 to
0.2 degrees Celsius by the year 2100.
- A Carbon Tax Would Be No Different: Alternative carbon
taxes share the central flaw of any other carbon reduction scheme.
Similar to cap and trade, a carbon tax would cause significant
economic damage and would do very little to reduce global
temperatures.
- An Alternative That Supports American Taxpayers: Instead
of appeasing a radical environmental agenda, President Obama should
give us access to all energy sources, including domestic oil
production, nuclear energy, coal, and new renewable fuels. Instead
of new taxes, the President should aim to lower gas and electricity
prices. When government impediments are lifted, America's energy
entrepreneurs can develop innovative and market-driven solutions to
our energy needs.
For more information, please visit:
http://blog.heritage.org/2009/05/01/cap-and-trade-is-a-tax-and-its-a-great-big-one.