Taxing Our Way To A Cooler Planet

No matter what the crisis - and no matter whether the crisis is real or imagined - the answer from the Democratic Party Playbook is always the same.

1. Raise Taxes.
2. Repeat Step 1.
   

And right on schedule, Step 1 is here:

Plan Uses Taxes to Fight Climate Change

By H. JOSEF HEBERT
The Associated Press
Wednesday, September 26, 2007; 7:34 PM

WASHINGTON -- Dealing with global warming will be painful, says one of the most powerful Democrats in Congress. To back up his claim he is proposing a recipe many people won't like _ a 50-cent gasoline tax, a carbon tax and scaling back tax breaks for some home owners.

"I'm trying to have everybody understand that this is going to cost and that it's going to have a measure of pain that you're not going to like," Rep. John Dingell, who is marking his 52nd year in Congress, said Wednesday in an interview with The Associated Press.

Dingell will offer a "discussion draft" outlining his tax proposals on Thursday, the same day that President Bush holds a two-day conference to discuss voluntary efforts to combat climate change.

But Dingell, chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee that will craft climate legislation, is making it clear that he believes tackling global warming will require a lot more if it is to be taken seriously.

"This is going to cause pain," he said, adding that he wants to make certain "the pain is shared in a way that is fair, proper, acceptable and accomplishes the basic purpose" of reducing greenhouse gases, mainly carbon dioxide from burning fossil fuels.

Dingell said he's not sure what the final climate package will include when the House takes it up for a vote. The taxes measures he's proposing, in fact, will be taken up by another House committee. And the Senate is considering a market-based system that would set an economy-wide ceiling on the amount of carbon dioxide that would be allowed to be released.

Dingell says he hasn't rule out such a so-called "cap-and-trade" system, either, but that at least for now he wants to float what he believes is a better idea. He will propose for discussion:

- A 50-cent-a-gallon tax on gasoline and jet fuel, phased in over five years, on top of existing taxes.

- A tax on carbon, at $50 a ton, released from burning coal, petroleum or natural gas.

- Phaseout of the interest tax deduction on home mortgages for homes over 3,000 square feet. Owners would keep most of the deduction for homes at the lower end of the scale, but it would be eliminated entirely for homes of 4,200 feet or more.

He estimates that would affect 10 percent of homeowners. He says "it's only fair" to tax those who buy large suburban houses and create urban sprawl. Historic and farm houses would be exempted.

Some of the revenue would be used to reduce payroll taxes, but most would go elsewhere including for highway construction, mass transit, paying for Social Security and health programs and to help the poor pay energy bills.

It's only fair, see? I'm just a little fuzzy in my understanding of how wholesale wealth redistribution will lower the average global temperature. Will a Social Security bailout fix the ozone hole, cure AIDS, save the whales, and promote world peace too? I guess the details will be filled in later; but for now, just pay up.

Anyway, here's how it will work out: Taxes will get raised and our economy will tank. This is OK, it can be blamed on Bush. Then after a few years, either the average global temperature will increase, or it will decrease.

• If the temperature increases, it will prove that we haven't raised taxes enough, leaving our government overlords no choice but to take more of our earnings. Proceed to Step 2.
  
  
• If the temperature decreases, it will prove that raising taxes really does work and more taxes will be required to cool the planet even faster. Proceed to Step 2.

But not to worry. As always, these taxes will be targeted at the "rich" (i.e., you and me), and will not affect "working Americans" (i.e., people who don't actually, you know... work).

Labels: Commentary, Global Warm-Mongering

posted by Paul @ 9:12 AM