President Obama's "cap-and-trade" proposal is really a $650 billion tax hidden in the form of higher energy costs, AWB President Don Brunell writes in his column this week.
The figure is the estimated amount of money the system would bring into the government over 10 years. Industries and energy producers would have no choice but to pass those costs along to customers in the form of higher energy prices, he writes. Working families would be hit hardest by the inevitable jumps in natural gas, electricity and gasoline prices.
"Cap-and-trade has been in effect in Europe since 2005," Brunell writes. "It has crippled countless businesses while doing virtually nothing to reduce CO2 levels. Before the U.S. jumps into something that jeopardized our entire economy, lawmakers should slow down and ask some hard questions."
