What does $1700 mean to your family budget
The democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives passed the controversial “Cap and Trade” legislation this summer mostly along party lines. In the debate leading up to the vote some reports cited by those in support of the bill put the cost to the average American family at around $340 a year. [1] Harry Waxman (D-CA) is quoted by CNSNews.com as saying “In fact, the Environmental Protection Agency estimate says that it will be about $40 or $50 per family per year.” [2]
Today, the Treasury Dept., in response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request by the Competitive enterprise Institute released demonstrates that the Obama administration calculated the potential cost of Cap and Trade to be over $1700 per a family per a year. [3][4]
I guess we should not be surprised that a mere $1,660 discrepancy in tax impact to the American family would be overlooked by a democratic party that continues to allow the House Ways and Means Committee – you know, the committee that writes the tax code – to be chaired by Charlie Rangel (D-NY). Yesterday, the National Legal and Policy Center filed a complaint with the House Committee Standards of Official Conduct to expand its ongoing investigation in Rangel’s under-reporting his income and capital gains by some $2 million dollars. [5][6]
Yet, we are asked to blindly believe Pres. Obama and the Democratic House and Senate leadership when they tell us that the Health Care Reform Act will be “deficit neutral”; that only the Federal Government can provide proper oversight of the health insurance industry; that only the Federal Government can provide meaningful competition to health insurance companies; that only the Federal Government can find waste, fraud and abuse in the system. So far, the confidence meter in the ability of this administration to get anything right is pegged at zero.
Footnotes:
[4] Dept. of Treasury reply to FOIA request from Competitive Enterprise Institute