OPINION:
The year now dying was, on the whole, a good one for liberty and limiting government. Let’s raise a cheer for 2014. Republicans, running on free market, low-tax, repeal-Obamacare platforms dominated Election Day at all levels of government. Attempts to raise taxes and expand the size and scope of government were stifled in city councils and legislatures across the land.
Nevertheless, there’s always much work left to do. On New Year’s Day, new federal, state and local laws take effect, and the worst of them will kill jobs, raise prices, impose more taxes and bring on new headaches for Americans everywhere.
At the federal level, the Employer Shared Responsibility provision, a key item in the Obamacare agenda, takes effect Jan. 1. The law requires employers with at least 100 full-time equivalent employees to provide health care coverage or pay oppressive financial penalties.
The Obamacare employee health care mandate isn’t the only new law that will increase the cost of doing business and reduce the number of job openings. Ten states — Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, Missouri, Montana, New Jersey, Ohio, Oregon and Washington — have chosen to raise the state minimum wage even though study after study shows that doing so kills jobs and increases the costs of goods and services, reducing the buying power of the poor. Dallas residents, for example, voted to prohibit retailers from offering customers free bags for their merchandise. Grocers, clothing boutiques, hardware stores and even restaurants will be required to charge customers a nickel for every bag. Rubbing in the penalty, Dallas taxpayers will be required to spend $250,000 on a “bag tax promotional campaign.”
Another law intended to save the Earth from the creatures that live here is a cap-and-trade scheme enacted by the California Air Resources Board to require California importers and refiners of gasoline and diesel to buy “carbon allowances” for every gallon of fuel they sell. According to the board’s calculations, motorists will pay nearly a dime more per gallon for fuel.
Perhaps the most unnerving law that takes effect on New Year’s Day is a creepy something called the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act. The federal law mandates that all new automobiles be outfitted with a device called an Event Data Recorder. This device is designed to silently “record the actions of drivers and the responses of their vehicles in a continuous information loop.” This includes vehicle speed, activation of the brakes in the moments before a crash, measuring crash forces at the moment of impact, the state of the engine throttle, timing of air bag deployment and readiness prior to a crash, and whether the occupant’s seat belt was buckled.
This information might be useful to automobile manufacturers and insurers, but the vague language of the law exposes drivers to government surveillance. A number of state legislatures have enacted measures to protect the privacy of drivers, but in most areas, federal, state and local law enforcement will be able to secretly tap into vehicles remotely to monitor and track driver behavior.
If 2014 was a year for liberty and responsible government, you might not tell it by the oppressive laws, taxes and regulations effective this New Year’s Day. There’s always next year, of course, and while no one is safe while a legislature is in session, there’s a hope that better decisions are coming.
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