Watts Up With That by Tim Benson 2/14/2020
A proposed $80 per ton Carbon-Dioxide and Gas Tax Would Be a Big Burden for Hawaii Families and BusinessesCompanion legislation introduced in the Hawaii State Legislature would establish a carbon-dioxide tax on all fossil fuels emitted or sold by distributors in the Aloha State. The tax would begin at $40 per ton in 2021, incrementally rising to $80 per ton in 2030.
The legislation also includes a “state environmental response, energy, carbon emissions, and food security tax†that would be charged “on each barrel or fractional part of a barrel of petroleum product sold by a distributor to any retail dealer or end user of petroleum product, other than a refiner.†This tax would also incrementally increase through 2030. For example, the tax on gasoline would begin at $8.22 per barrel in 2021 and top out at $23.16 in 2030, while diesel fuel would begin at $10.35 per barrel in 2021 and run to $26.34 in 2030. (Propane and butane would go from $10.47 to $20.94, kerosene from $16.38 to $32.76, jet fuel from $16.07 to $32.15, and aviation gas from $14.03 to $28.07, respectively.)
Included in the carbon-dioxide tax portion of the bill is a tax credit intended to “mitigate the effect of a … tax on lower income taxpayers.†Single tax filers making less than $20,000 a year would receive a $250 tax credit while married filers in the same bracket would receive $500. These credits would gradually decrease the further up you go on the income ladder. The smallest credit would be $50 for single filers earning $50,000 to $60,000 a year and $100 for married filers making $60,000 to $75,000.
These credits are necessary because carbon-dioxide taxes are inherently regressive and disproportionally harm low-income families. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) found a $28-per-ton carbon tax would result in energy costs being 250 percent higher for the poorest one-fifth of households than the richest one-fifth of households.
More:
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2020/02/14/hawaiian-residents-will-suffer-greatly-from-new-climate-saving-carbon-taxes/
