Back in June, while the news media was worshiping at the feet of a recently deceased Michael Jackson, the US House of Representatives passed one of the most onerous bills imaginable with little debate or scrutiny. By a vote of 219-212, HR 2454, the Cap-and-Trade (Cap and Tax) scheme was passed with seven Republican votes! Republican representatives Bono (CA), Castle (DE), Kirk (IL), Lance (NJ), LoBiondo (NJ), McHugh (NY), Reichert (WA) and Smith (NJ) ignored their constituent’s objections to cross the aisle to make this thing a reality.
Amazingly with this thing being very high on Obama’s wish list there were actually 44 Democrats that had enough common sense to jump ship and vote against it. They should be commended for opposing their parties leadership. The Republican turncoats listed above can be thanked for this things passing. If you live in one of their districts, be sure to take notice and send them an appropriate “Thank You” note for offering to raise your taxes by up to $3000 per year while sending American jobs overseas.
Today “Cap and Tax” faces an uncertain future in the Senate. Many senators are already aware of opposition in their home districts and are reluctant to further lower their reelection potential. However, the threat is still there. If we fail to continue to make our objections known to our senators, make no mistake, it will become law. We will be taxed for every bit of energy we consume, produce, or import.
The additional tax costs have been touted by the Democrats as being “only” about $800 per year per family in the US. And what would we get for that price? Well, first of all you would get to contribute an additional $100 to $200 billion dollars in new taxes to the treasury for supporting all the good causes like Acorn’s “Advice to Prostitutes” program. Isn’t it wonderful supporting new business enterprises in the “hood”?
In addition there are lots of new “earmarks” that are just awaiting funding. Companys that produce energy would pay a large portion of that tax and would pass it on directly to the consumers. This “Cap and Tax” scheme is one of the instruments that was created to help fund Obamacare with several hundred billion additional dollars per year.
“Cap and Tax” is designed as a “feel good” program that will cut America’s greenhouse gas emissions as part of a “solution for Global Warming”. No matter that true science shows that worldwide temperatures are actually decreasing and have been for the last five years. How much additional taxation are we really willing to endure just for liberals to “feel good”.
Because of this legislation many manufacturers and energy producers will be forced to shut down American operations and send jobs, along with its energy consumption overseas. Since America is going to be producing less energy and less manufactured goods because of the taxes the slack will be taken up by China, India and other relatively undeveloped and similarly untaxed nations.
Because of their lack of environmental regulations these nations are some of the biggest polluters in the world today! China is today’s largest single polluter, and India is not far behind. They also produce many times more pollution for the amount of energy and goods produced than in the US. As a result of this legislation the net amount of emissions worldwide will go up, not down! But liberals in the US can still sip their lattes and be so thankful that they have cut down on the evil energy consumption in the US. (Don’t mention the unemployment lines. Those are just “Inconvenient Truths”)
Today we are told that about 20% of the pollution seen on the west coast of the US now comes from China. That amount will go up as China assumes a even larger energy consumption role. Jobs will disappear as more companies discover they can avoid the taxes by moving their manufacturing jobs “south of the border” or “across the sea”. American families will be paying more taxes while having less jobs than ever before, regardless of Obama’s promise that 90% of taxpayers would not see their taxes go up.
While Democrats try to minimize the effect of this tax increase, others are not so positive about the size of the tax burden coming from this. Republican sources estimate the annual cost per family to be in excess of $3000 per year per family, and the Heritage Foundation estimates it at over $1500 per year. On September 11th, a freedom of information request resulted in the Obama Administration’s Treasury Department releasing their own documentation that shows that they estimate cap-and-trade energy legislation would American families $1,761 a year in new taxes. This in spite Obama’s no more taxes for 90% of taxpayers pledge.
Any representative, regardless of party, that voted for this senseless travesty on the American public should be put on immediate notice to look for a new job next November. Its time we find someone that will actually represent the people that send them to Washington. This is only one of a series of ill conceived bills that Obama, Reid, and Pelosi are trying to foist on the American public and we should not stand for it in any form! Contact your Senator and let him/her know you are taxed enough already.
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