*This article was written by Rob at Leaning Right. This article does not necessarily reflect the beliefs of Tabitha Hale. Direct your hateful comments to me. *
In 1988 when George HW Bush was running for president he used that ever so famous line “Read My Lips: No New Taxes.” This line, written by the elegant Peggy Noonan, has become a buzzphrase connected to the word “Liar.” He raised taxes and lost re-election.
Remember September 12, 2008 when then-Senator Barack Obama spoke to a crowd in New Hampshire?
“I can make a firm pledge. Under my plan, no family making less than $250,000 a year will see any form of tax increase. Not your income tax, not your payroll tax, not your capital gains taxes, not any of your taxes” (September 12, 2008, Dover, NH)
I will set aside all arguments on how raising taxes on anyone regardless of income is bogus. It is easier to point out that this statement was simply not true.
First, and probably with the support of many “social conservatives” (I hate that term but had to use it here), the first tax increase came in early April entering the President’s 4th month in office when he signed one of the largest tax increases on the working class in history.
Now in office, Obama, who stopped smoking but has admitted he slips now and then, signed a law raising the tobacco tax nearly 62 cents on a pack of cigarettes, to $1.01. Other tobacco products saw similarly steep increases.
I make under $250,000 a year. In fact, I make around 10% of that. I smoke. My taxes went up. And hold your tongue on that “you can choose to stop killing yourself” crap because that argument doesnt hold any water. You can quit buying gas and turn down that promotion that would put you in a new tax bracket. Taxing people for their personal habits and decisions is wrong. End of story.
NOW the most recent tax increase that is on everyone’s mind is what came about with this cap and trade fiasco, the president’s first major attempt at combatting the so-called climate crisis.
The Wall Street Journal reports:
The Congressional Budget Office… estimates that the price hikes from a 15% cut in emissions would cost the average household in the bottom-income quintile about 3.3% of its after-tax income every year. That’s about $680, not including the costs of reduced employment and output. The three middle quintiles would see their paychecks cut between $880 and $1,500, or 2.9% to 2.7% of income. The rich would pay 1.7%. Cap and trade is the ideal policy for every Beltway analyst who thinks the tax code is too progressive (all five of them).
How does Cap and Trade Work? Christian Science Monitor has a good explanation.
A governing body caps the amount of pollutants that can be released into the atmosphere, then mandates that companies emitting those pollutants must hold permits to cover the amount of pollutants they expel. To reduce pollution, the governing body slowly reduces the number of allowances available over time…
…when participants place a bid, they name the amount they’re willing to pay per allowance and the number of allowances they’d like to purchase……The bids are then collected and ordered according to price. Starting at the top of the list, with the highest bids, the auction overseer works his way down, adding the number of allowances requested until he reaches the total number of allowances offered in that auction. When he reaches that point, he draws a line; everyone above the line receives the number of allowances they requested at the lowest winning bid – the price closest to, but still above, the line. This is known as the clearing price, the price that every winning bidder will pay for their allowances, no matter what price they originally bid.
So the companies that offer to pay the most, pay the same amount as those that offer to pay the least, so long as the government believes that that least amount is acceptable. The companies that offer to pay less than what the government determines is acceptable get screwed out of the energy that they may need.
To use a word that people will accuse of being extreme, this is the definition of Fascism.
Where socialism nationalized property explicitly, fascism did so implicitly, by requiring owners to use their property in the “national interest”—that is, as the autocratic authority conceived it.
‘But.. But.. Mister Rob… The taxes are against evil corporations that want the ocean to swallow up New York City and cast the world into an ice age. The working class is left alone.’
Unless of course you work for a corporation. Like Wal Mart, Microsoft, Google, GM, GE, and the rest. The government is cutting emissions by a whopping 15%, so naturally the price will increase to reflect the demand for the 85% of energy that is left. Those price increases will be reflected in the very same budget that reflects your wages. And I have a hard time believing that companies already just blow money on energy that they don’t need, but let’s say they cut every corner to bring their usage down to their minimal requirements with their current labor force. What’s the decrease? A whopping 1/6 of their energy budget? Try cutting your food budget by 15% and see if you don’t have to cut back on other things.
This will result in unemployment. Duh.
Oh, and where in the country will these taxes primarily come from?
Coal provides more than half of U.S. electricity, and 25 states get more than 50% of their electricity from conventional coal-fired generation. In Ohio, it totals 86%, according to the Energy Information Administration. Ratepayers in Indiana (94%), Missouri (85%), New Mexico (80%), Pennsylvania (56%), West Virginia (98%) and Wyoming (95%) are going to get soaked.
Those billionaires in New Mexico, West Virginia and Whyoming man. Those filthy rich bastards will be paying all these energy taxes. wait…
![[Review & Outlook]](https://i2.wp.com/s.wsj.net/public/resources/images/ED-AJ130_3whopa_NS_20090308171239.gif)
Who’s going to be benefitting without paying those taxes? Looks like the poor, hungry people in the states of Massachusetts, Connecticut, California, and New York. Wait…
