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« Back to Opinion & Analysis
Carbon Tax and Wealth Redistribution
Steven F. Hotze, M.D.
June 2, 2008
The socialists are at it again. They are pushing a massive new tax upon Americans which would seriously undermine the free enterprise system and transfer enormous amounts of income to the federal government.
The goal of the socialists is to redistribute income from the producers to the political class who will use it to purchase the votes of the unproductive in order to keep themselves in power. This political class, made up of both Democrats and Republicans, view civil government as sovereign in society, entitled to gaining all the wealth it desires by confiscating it from the producers.
Remember, civil government does not produce income. People and businesses do. The only way that government can amass wealth is by taxing people and businesses.
So here comes the "carbon tax" proposal, introduced in the U.S. Senate as the Warner-Lieberman "Cap and Trade" Act. Its purpose is to place a tax on all carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, which are produced from 85% of all energy use. All businesses, motor vehicles, buildings and homes would be taxed based upon the amount of CO2 that they emit. The taxes would fall most heavily on businesses because this is an indirect tax. A direct tax on gasoline would be politically unpalatable.
Businesses produce the goods and services which people need and desire. The carbon tax would be inevitably passed on, as an added expense, to the consumer. The rising cost of goods and services would lead to falling demand, less production, less jobs and a decline in the overall standard of living.
Initially, the carbon tax would transfer over $300 billion dollars annually to the federal treasury for use by the politicians and bureaucrats. More entitlement programs would be created and the federal government would expand.
Tax allowances would be given to certain businesses, namely those with the most powerful lobby. This would enable politicians to promote certain industries at the expense of others, creating a disruption in the free market economy. If the environmentalists control Congress, then you can be sure that the oil and gas industry would be punished and taxed heavily. This would adversely affect the Texas economy.
Environmentalists and their socialist allies have created mass hysteria over the bogus threat of global warming, blaming it on CO2 emissions. Scientists who depend upon government grants to study the effects of climate change have been recruited to validate their claims.
Global warming has been occurring for over 12,000 years, since the last Great Ice Age ended.
Solar activity which runs in cycles, ebbing and flowing much like the tides of the sea, causes climate change. Since creation, the world has experienced extended periods of warming and cooling due to changes in the sun's activity.
The carbon tax would have no measurable impact on global temperatures. It is an unprecedented tax grab to feed the government's insatiable appetite.
The socialists demagogue about global warming to gain support for the carbon tax, which is just another means to undermine the free enterprise system.
About Conservative Republicans of Texas
Steven F. Hotze, M.D. is president of Conservative Republicans of Texas and founder of Hotze Health & Wellness Center in Houston, Texas.
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