Obama's Energy Tax Friday, February 27th 2009 The 2010 Obama budget reveals the major tax hike that Pelosi, Reid, and Obama are counting on to fund the outrageous bailout and stimulus spending that is propelling federal spending to record levels-27.7 percent of GDP in 2009, an all-time record other than the four peak years of World War II. The tax hike is a broad-based energy tax that will wallop every American who fills a gas tank, pays an electric bill, or buys any product that has to be grown, shipped, or manufactured. The mechanism is cap-and-trade, which is like a tax on coal, oil, and natural gas but instead of being set at a specific amount, the total level of use is capped and companies are forced to pay the government for emissions permits-which Wall Street wizards at companies like AIG and Goldman Sachs can in turn trade on sophisticated exchanges and derivative markets. White House Budget Director Peter Orzcag admitted that decreasing carbon emissions imposes costs on the economy, and "much of those costs will be passed along to consumers in the form of higher prices for energy and energy-intensive goods." Page 21 of the Obama budget proposal highlights his cap-and-trade proposal: After enactment of the Budget, the Administration will work expeditiously with key stakeholders and the Congress to develop an economy-wide emissions reduction program to reduce greenhouse gas emissions approximately 14 percent below 2005 levels by 2020, and approximately 83 percent below 2005 levels by 2050. The economic impact of such a policy would be devastating. Even using the Obama administration's own numbers, it would amount to a tax hike of $645 billion over the first 8 years, about $80 billion per year. But as the cap becomes more and more strict over time, those costs would skyrocket into the trillions of dollars. Obama's proposed 83 percent reduction below 2005 levels by 2050 dwarfs the proposal from last year's Lieberman-Warner bill, which included a 63 percent reduction. While we don't have numbers yet on the new proposal, the cost of last year's bill is instructive. A study conducted by SAIC (the same modeling firm the Energy Department uses for its own projections) for the American Council on Capital Formation, found that electricity prices would be expected to increase under anywhere between 101 percent and 129 percent by the year 2030. Prices at the pump would jump 77 percent to 145 percent-bringing not just $4 gasoline, but very possibly $8 gasoline or higher. The estimated impact on disposable household income due to rising energy prices would then reach anywhere between $4,022 and $6,752. And because an energy tax is regressive, it will fall heaviest on poor and lower middle class folks who spend more of their income on energy. The new version of the plan in the Obama budget is much more aggressive, and reducing emissions another 20 percent will be dramatically more costly-possibly as much as double the cost since the additional cuts will come in the most difficult and expensive areas, like transportation and agriculture. While the lost purchasing power for a typical household will decline by many thousands of dollars, the administration promises the plan will be "offset" by the $400 per worker rebate checks that were passed as part of the stimulus bill. Paying thousands and getting back hundreds is a bad deal for American families. This is not a side-effect of his plan--it's the intended goal, which was clear when Obama said in his address to Congress that he wants to give so-called renewable energies a market advantage, which can only be done by imposing a tax that dramatically increases the cost of natural gas, oil, and coal. This policy would destroy the only bright spot in the current economic environment, low energy prices, and cause severe economic pain. It should not even be contemplated if we are serious about addressing the country's economic crisis.

President Barack Obama will propose raising new revenue through a greenhouse gas cap and emissions trading scheme when he unveils his first budget on Thursday, US media reported. The budget he will present assumes an emissions trading system will generate revenue by 2012, the Washington Post reported. Fifteen billion dollars of the money generated would be directed to clean-energy projects, the Post said, citing sources familiar with the document. Another 60 billion would go to tax credits for lower- and middle-income working families, and the rest to help families, small businesses and communities deal with higher energy costs, the paper reported. The Post cited testimony to Congress in September by Peter Orszag, currently Obama's budget director, estimating that revenue from a cap-and-trade scheme could reach 112 billion dollars by 2012. According to Orszag, who at the time was director of the Congressional Budget Office, the program -- which would force companies to buy permits if they exceed pollution emission limits -- could generate between 50 and 300 billion dollars a year by 2020.

The potential costs to America from cap-and-trade policies are enormous. The Department of Energy estimates that S. 2191, the Warner-Lieberman cap-and-trade proposal, will increase the cost of coal for power generation by between 161% and 413%. DOE estimates GDP losses (see chart) over the 21-year period they forecast, at between $444 billion and $1.308 trillion, with particular damage to the manufacturing sector. (This gives some hope that organized labor will, in a rare occurrence, oppose Democratic leaders on this issue.) Winegarden estimates that this bill could increase unemployment by 2.7% or about 4 million jobs. In fact, companies are already preparing to avoid increased level and volatility of American energy prices by setting up factories and partnerships in countries which won’t be subject to cap-and-trade restrictions…proving with real-world behavior of producers that no carbon-limiting regulation can succeed if it is not universal.

Obama's Budget: Almost $1 Trillion in New Taxes
Over Next 10 yrs, Starting 2011
February 26, 2009 12:00 PM

President Obama's budget proposes $989 billion in new taxes over the course of the next 10 years, starting fiscal year 2011, most of which are tax increases on individuals.

1) On people making more than $250,000.

$338 billion - Bush tax cuts expire
$179 billlion - eliminate itemized deduction
$118 billion - capital gains tax hike

Total: $636 billion/10 years


2) Businesses:

$17 billion - Reinstate Superfund taxes

$24 billion - tax carried-interest as income

$5 billion - codify "economic substance doctrine"

$61 billion - repeal LIFO

$210 billion - international enforcement, reform deferral, other tax reform

$4 billion - information reporting for rental payments

$5.3 billion - excise tax on Gulf of Mexico oil and gas

$3.4 billion - repeal expensing of tangible drilling costs

$62 million - repeal deduction for tertiary injectants

$49 million - repeal passive loss exception for working interests in oil and natural gas properties

$13 billion - repeal manufacturing tax deduction for oil and natural gas companies

$1 billion - increase to 7 years geological and geophysical amortization period for independent producers

$882 million - eliminate advanced earned income tax credit

Total: $353 billion/10 years

Originally Posted by nightrider127 This is more of his share the wealth crap. Problem is, most Americans don't have a whole lot more wealth to share. You know what? I am going to say it. I do not like the man.

Originally Posted by anothersta That dislike is probably going to grow to hate as your electric bills SOAR to 1000.00 a month or more.