During the final U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works hearing on the Kerry-Boxer cap-and-trade bill, Senator Kit Bond presented his report, Climate Change Legislation: A $3.6 Trillion Gas Tax, which he released with Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX) documenting how cap-and-trade represents a giant gas tax on America’s drivers, farmers, truckers and small businesses.
“Cap-and-trade represents a giant $3.6 trillion gas tax on America’s drivers, farmers, truckers, and small businesses,” said Bond.
The Hutchison-Bond report documents how the expected price per gallon increase from cap-and-trade multiplied by the amount of fuel America is expected to use during the life of a cap-and-trade bill will impose a $3.6 trillion tax on gasoline, jet and diesel fuel. The report specifically shows how:
· America families and workers will pay $2 trillion more for gasoline under cap-and-trade.
· American truckers, farmers and workers will pay $1.3 trillion more for diesel under cap-and-trade.
· American airline passengers will pay $330 billion more to fly because of cap-and-trade.
Bond expressed concern that the consumer protection provided by the Kerry-Boxer cap-and-trade bill declines quickly over the years and runs out completely halfway through the life of the bill. Cap-and-trade bills drive electricity rates higher—up to 42 percent higher in Missouri by 2020 and 48 percent higher across the country by 2050 exposing consumers, workers and families to higher prices.
The Kerry-Boxer bill also quickly cuts worker protection funding and eliminates it by 2034. This failure will specifically hurt farmers who need protection from higher energy prices under cap-and-trade because they must buy energy-intensive products like fertilizer. He noted that this will force production of fertilizer and energy-intensive jobs overseas to countries like Russia.
“Do we really want to make U.S. farmers dependent on Russian fertilizer?” asked Bond. “I urge this committee to cut carbon transportation emissions without raising taxes and killing jobs through hybrid, plug-in and all-electric vehicles, advanced fuels and mass transit where it makes sense. That is the cleaner future I see for America and I hope this Committee will see it soon too.”
An audio and video clip of this EPW hearing statement is posted on the Senator’s website.
