Watts Up With That? by Tim Benson 3/13/2020
Washington Bill Would Open Up Possibility of Regressive, Harmful Cap-and-Trade Program or Carbon-Dioxide Tax
A bill introduced in the Washington House of Representatives would give the state Department of Ecology (DOE) the authority to create either a carbon-dioxide tax or cap-and-trade system, or both, in the Evergreen State. If passed, DOE could establish each program without any sort of legislative approval.
“Department of Ecology staff could create rules that covered companies that emit as few as 25,000 metric tons of [carbon dioxide],†writes Todd Myers of the Washington Policy Center (WPC). “In Washington state, that would include food producers like El Oro Cattle Feeders in Moses Lake and Lamb Weston in Quincy. It could include timber mills like SDS Lumber in Bingen and Vaagen Brothers in Colville. It would include semiconductor manufacturers and solar panel manufacturers.â€Washington voters have signaled their opposition to a carbon-dioxide tax multiple times in the past half decade, most recently with their thorough rejection of Initiative 1631 (I-1631) in 2018.
Carbon-dioxide taxes are inherently regressive and disproportionally harm low-income families. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) found a $28 per ton carbon dioxide tax would result in energy costs being 250 percent higher for the poorest one-fifth of households than the richest one-fifth of households.
CBO reports the reason for cost discrepancy is “a carbon tax would increase the prices of fossil fuels in direct proportion to their carbon content. Higher fuel prices, in turn, would raise production costs and ultimately drive up prices for goods and services throughout the economy … Low-income households spend a larger share of their income on goods and services whose prices would increase the most, such as electricity and transportation.â€
More:
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2020/03/13/washington-bill-would-open-up-possibility-of-regressive-harmful-cap-and-trade-program-or-carbon-dioxide-tax/
