Post by jgaffney on Dec 11, 2008 17:07:55 GMT -5
Now that oil is below $50 a barrel and gas is below $2 a gallon, this issue might have fallen off of your radar screen. Rest assured, however, that there are those in the incoming Obama administration who are hatching plans to regulate and tax your energy usage until you reach the frugality that they deem sufficient for your lifestyle - or the lifestyle that they will proscribe for you.
We can argue back and forth about greenhouse gasses and man's ability to affect global temperatures, but consider for a minute a carbon tax regime as a tool to reduce CO emissions. The stated use of the revenue collected is for investments in clean energy technologies resulting, we are told, in a green future where we all live in peace with the environment with a stable climate.
Then, think of how government allocates revenues from other "end user" taxes. Federal gasoline taxes accrue in the Highway Trust Fund, which was set up during the Eisenhower administration to fund the construction of the interstate highway system as a defense measure. Well, that interstate system is pretty much completed but the tax lives on. Instead, Congress hoardes the tax money off budget, and only includes it at the end of the budget, in the same manner that the Social Security Trust Fund is included. These trust funds are used to offset the total federal spending and make the annual deficit seem smaller than it really is.
Or, think about Vehicle License Fee here in California. Originally, the VLF was a property tax levied by the counties on automobiles as personal property. The State stepped in and claimed that, since they were the ones issuing the annual license, they should be the one to collect the fee. But, not to worry, the State would return the revenue to each county, minus, of course, some administrative fees. Then, the State was flush with dot com revenue and Pete Wilson slashed the VLF, with a promise to the locals that the revenue would be backfilled with general fund revenue. When that tanked, Gray Davis tried to put the VLF back up to where it was, and look what that got him. In the end, the locals got it in the end.
Or, look at what has happened to school funding. Long ago, a portion of your property tax stayed in the county and funded the local schools. The State stepped in and said that it would be much more efficient for the State to collect the revenue and remit it back to the counties. Then, the State got into the education business and started deciding how much each county should get back, irrespective of how much that county had paid in. After the Teachers Union was done gaming the system, we have the current mess, when even a $4 million reduction in the growth of school funding generates a barrage of TV ads explaing that Johnnie can't read because we're not throwing enough money at the problem.
The point of this rant is that, even if the government starts a carbon tax system with the stated intent of funding clean energy research, it won't stay that way. We have the twin tidal waves of Social Security and Medicare that are going to break over the federal government in the next 10-20 years and Congress will be scrambling for every single source of revenue they can lay their hands on. Nothing will be sacred, even the carbon tax. Then where will we be?
We can argue back and forth about greenhouse gasses and man's ability to affect global temperatures, but consider for a minute a carbon tax regime as a tool to reduce CO emissions. The stated use of the revenue collected is for investments in clean energy technologies resulting, we are told, in a green future where we all live in peace with the environment with a stable climate.
Then, think of how government allocates revenues from other "end user" taxes. Federal gasoline taxes accrue in the Highway Trust Fund, which was set up during the Eisenhower administration to fund the construction of the interstate highway system as a defense measure. Well, that interstate system is pretty much completed but the tax lives on. Instead, Congress hoardes the tax money off budget, and only includes it at the end of the budget, in the same manner that the Social Security Trust Fund is included. These trust funds are used to offset the total federal spending and make the annual deficit seem smaller than it really is.
Or, think about Vehicle License Fee here in California. Originally, the VLF was a property tax levied by the counties on automobiles as personal property. The State stepped in and claimed that, since they were the ones issuing the annual license, they should be the one to collect the fee. But, not to worry, the State would return the revenue to each county, minus, of course, some administrative fees. Then, the State was flush with dot com revenue and Pete Wilson slashed the VLF, with a promise to the locals that the revenue would be backfilled with general fund revenue. When that tanked, Gray Davis tried to put the VLF back up to where it was, and look what that got him. In the end, the locals got it in the end.
Or, look at what has happened to school funding. Long ago, a portion of your property tax stayed in the county and funded the local schools. The State stepped in and said that it would be much more efficient for the State to collect the revenue and remit it back to the counties. Then, the State got into the education business and started deciding how much each county should get back, irrespective of how much that county had paid in. After the Teachers Union was done gaming the system, we have the current mess, when even a $4 million reduction in the growth of school funding generates a barrage of TV ads explaing that Johnnie can't read because we're not throwing enough money at the problem.
The point of this rant is that, even if the government starts a carbon tax system with the stated intent of funding clean energy research, it won't stay that way. We have the twin tidal waves of Social Security and Medicare that are going to break over the federal government in the next 10-20 years and Congress will be scrambling for every single source of revenue they can lay their hands on. Nothing will be sacred, even the carbon tax. Then where will we be?
