So, we can expect $200 million to be spent, with the rest disappearing into the pockets of NGOs, friends and family of politicians and bureaucrats, and money getting fed back into the coffers of politicians?
How one Oregon city has raised a billion dollars for climate change
In the last seven years, the city of Portland, Ore., has built a community solar project to reduce emissions and lower energy bills for 150 low-income families. The city has distributed more than 20,000 free air conditioning units to help vulnerable households prepare for heat waves. It has funded energy efficiency retrofits for 3,100 homes. And 2,000 people have been trained in the renewable energy and construction fields.
Best Buy has window AC units running from $1200 for a 1500 square foot to the upper $100s for small room units. Does anyone else think Portland spent 3-4 times that cost for the units (cough graft cough)?
These projects have all been made possible due to an innovative billion-dollar climate fund. The Portland Clean Energy Fund is a first-of-its-kind racial, social and climate justice fund aimed at helping the city’s most vulnerable residents adapt to climate change while also reducing carbon emissions.
A 65% majority of voters passed the measure in 2018, and in 2019, the city began levying a 1% retail sales tax on large corporations within Portland city limits — think Target, Walmart, REI.
Unlike a sales tax, which is paid by the consumer, the companies pay the city a small percentage of each sale; for example, a $100 purchase means the city earns $1.
So every large corporation simply raises the cost of items so they make the same profit, right, hence, the consumer actually pays. And, along with all the other crazy crap in Portland, it just meant they had another reason to leave. Walmart has closed all of its stores. Target closed multiple stores, leaving 3. Many other companies, including supermarkets, have left. And, sure, crime, theft, Progressives, were primary.
Since the fund began, it has garnered about $1 billion and is projected to reach $1.6 billion by mid-2029.
Well, you voted to pay more, Portland residents who overwhelmingly vote Democrat, no complaining when you have to keep leaving the city to buy goods.
Just how many “heat waves” do the people of Portland get? On the Pacific coast, with natural, clockwise currents bringing down water from the north, the city is naturally cool.