Back Door "Green" Tax Increase



Green Taxes . . . the newest scam from Socialists.


Governor Brown to raid a $1 Billion "Greenhouse Gas Fund" to pay for social programs

• Money earmarked to "create jobs and deliver public health, economic and environmental benefits."

Jerry Brown, Leftist Governor of the People's Republic of California, has found a new pot of money to help him fill a $9-billion hole in his proposed budget: $1 billion from auctioning credits to allow California companies to emit greenhouse gases.

Let's bottom line this.  Leftists in both parties have no real interest in "Greenhouse Gasses."  If they did then only caps on gasses would be in the law.  No, this is all about brand new taxes that do not stop the gasses but do pour billions into government treasuries that can then be spent on Big Government programs.

But business groups are already denouncing Brown's plan as a back-door tax increase that they intend to challenge in court if the proposal is approved as part of the state budget for the fiscal year that begins July 1 reports the Los Angeles Times.

"At a time when the public is concerned about jobs and the economy, the budget proposes a new tax on California businesses for climate change activities," said Dorothy Rothrock, vice president of the California Manufacturers and Technology Assn. "The anticipated $1 billion is not windfall revenue. The funds will be paid by California employers suffering the worst recession since the Great Depression."

The so called cap-and-trade system is a critical piece of AB 32, California's landmark legislation aimed at cutting carbon dioxide emissions to 1990 levels by 2020. Modeled on a European program, it sets a cap on emissions of carbon dioxide, methane and other greenhouse gases for each industrial polluter or electric power plant. Facilities can exceed their cap only if they buy credits of other plants that have extra ones after reducing their own releases into the atmosphere.

The first auction, tentatively set for August, is projected to raise as much as $1 billion, which would be earmarked to "create jobs and deliver public health, economic and environmental benefits" as part of the state's effort to curb global warming, the governor's office said.

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