Senator Whitehouse Exposes Carbon Tax Push As A Redistribution Scheme

As I’ve noted numerous times, the whole “climate change” schtick is really just another part of the far left Progressive policy push, an attempt to instituted their out of the mainstream agenda. Senator Whitehouse unintentionally exposes part of that push

(ECO Watch) Delivering a keynote address at the New York University Institute for Policy Integrity’s fall conference, in which he noted “The world has just set some dubious records. 2014 is on pace to tie or become the hottest year on record,” U.S. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse announced that he plans to introduce legislation creating a carbon pollution fee next month. He said he will reveal details in the next few weeks. (snip)

“Pollution-driven climate change hurts our economy, damages our infrastructure and harms public health,” he told his audience. “However, none of these costs are factored into the price of the coal or oil that’s burned to release this carbon. The big oil and coal companies have offloaded those costs onto society. Economics 101 tells us that’s a market failure; in the jargon, that negative externalities are inefficient. If a company participates in an activity that causes harm, it should have to compensate those harmed.”

“By making carbon pollution free, we subsidize fossil fuel companies to the tune of hundreds of billions of dollars annually,” he continued. “By making carbon pollution free, we fix the game, favoring polluters over newer and cleaner technologies that harvest the wind, sun and waves.  Corporate polluters, not bearing the costs of their products, are in effect cheating their competitors.”

What does he tell us he wants during the speech, for which he certainly took a fossil fueled trip from Rhode Island, and a return trip afterwards

Whitehouse praised the Obama administration’s limit on carbon emissions from power plants,announced in June, saying “It will change the way polluters think.” But he’d like to take the next step of making polluters pay for their cost to society. He said that not only would it reduce carbon emissions and improve air quality, it would generate significant new revenue for the federal government, perhaps as much as a two trillion dollars in the first decade. He pointed to some of the positive uses that money could be applied to, including cutting taxes, relieving student debt, increasing Social Security benefits and providing transition assistance to workers in fossil fuel industries.

So, really just a redistribution scheme. What he means by “cutting taxes” is giving money to certain people as rebates after paying federal tax rates, not actually lowering the tax rate.

And then there’s this, from one of the people in the comments “As soon as you use the term “carbon pollution” for CO2, you announce to the world that you don’t know a damn thing about science, and you immediately disqualify yourself from any rational discussion thereof.”

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4 Responses to “Senator Whitehouse Exposes Carbon Tax Push As A Redistribution Scheme”

  1. Jeffery says:

    Deniers call it redistribution, rational folk call it responsibility.

    Re-read this until you understand it. Or have someone read it to you and explain it.

    “Pollution-driven climate change hurts our economy, damages our infrastructure and harms public health,” he told his audience. “However, none of these costs are factored into the price of the coal or oil that’s burned to release this carbon. The big oil and coal companies have offloaded those costs onto society. Economics 101 tells us that’s a market failure; in the jargon, that negative externalities are inefficient. If a company participates in an activity that causes harm, it should have to compensate those harmed.”

    Wow, that’s impressive. A politician who understands basic economic theory.

    Our energy companies fear having to pay for the damage we’ve all encouraged but neglected to pay for. So they and theirs Deny the damage. We get it. The energy companies, like the tobacco companies, want to keep all the money.

  2. Nighthawk says:

    Read this and re-read it until you understand it….

    AGW is a complete farce. There is no proof that man’s activities are causing climate change. There has been no warming in over 18 years. Every computer model used to predict changes in the climate have failed miserably. Warmists still refuse to lead by example but expect us to give up our lifestyles and hard earned money to line their pockets. Climate change has always happened and always will happen and man has very little if anything to do with it.

  3. david7134 says:

    Night,
    It is no use, he can’t understand anything. It is not worth the effort to get the fool to listen. I would just love to know how a changing climate will cause such problems but at the same time the damage done to our economy by the carbon bunch will have worse effects. They have no logic. Then, why do they think the oil companies give a damn about CO2 taxes and other aspects of their religion? They will make money no matter what.

  4. Jeffery says:

    Nighthawk,

    I understand perfectly all that you typed. But I also recognize it is untrue. Every statement you typed is false.

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