Thursday, May 14, 2009

Cap & Trade Transparency

Congressman Jason Chaffetz (Utah) has put forth legislation in the house to have transparency in all utility taxes passed unto the consumer from Cap & Trade legislation. Since utility companies are just entities of the government, all taxes are passed directly to consumers. This law will require a line item amount of the tax we are paying.
The cap & trade policy that the President is trying to pass is nothing more than a hidden tax that will affect every American. These taxes will affect lower income families more profoundly, as the percentage of income that they pay towards utilities is higher for them than it is for middle and higher income families.
If the American people are going to pay for these taxes than it seems only “fair” that we understand exactly what it is costing us on a monthly basis. Especially since the reality is that consumers will not be able to figure out how much we are actually paying for this tax. The businesses and retailers will be passing this along to consumers through higher rates for goods and services, and where that is not possible they will be saving additional funds to cover the taxes by lowering wages and benefits. This will also affect shareholders with publically traded companies by lower stock values.
The President’s budget has estimated that this tax will cost American taxpayers $646 billion over ten years. Since the release of the budget, the office of the President has admitted that this estimate is too low.
Even if you are apt to believe that this legislation is necessary to combat climate change, you should still feel that all consumers have the right to know how much it is costing them. I urge all people to contact you representative to sign onto this piece of legislation. President Obama promised us transparency; so please take a stand & demand he keep that promise.

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