OPINION:
One of the great things about dealing with the written word is that you run across opportunities to remind people of bad ideas they had, usually in a moment of weakness.
Such an opportunity has recently presented itself in the form of John Podesta — President Biden’s climate czar — who recently said that a carbon border tax would likely be proposed in the second term of the Biden administration.
If a carbon border tax sounds familiar, it should. In June, Sen. Kevin Cramer of North Dakota and a handful of other Republican senators introduced legislation to construct the administrative apparatus necessary to impose such a tax. In response to a Washington Times editorial at that time, Mr. Cramer argued that The Times misapprehended the legislation that set up the structure to impose a carbon dioxide tax — which is, of course, an energy tax that would increase the cost of everything grown, made or transported — was different from actually imposing the tax.
Unfortunately for him, a few months later, Sen. Bill Cassidy — another Republican, this time from Louisiana — said the quiet part out loud and introduced legislation that directly imposed an energy border tax.
Mr. Podesta has made it crystal clear that Mr. Cramer and Mr. Cassidy — with GOP Sens. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska — are, unwittingly or otherwise, accomplices to the Biden administration’s plan to impose an energy border tax in a second term.
This energy tax would fall hardest on the poor, the old, those on fixed incomes and local institutions with limited budgets such as schools and hospitals. Knowing this, its Republican advocates have tried to disguise the actual intention of the legislation — which is, of course, to increase the price of energy and everything grown, made or transported with energy — with propaganda about being tough on our trade competitors, including China. The new rule in Washington seems to be that when you are trying to sell policies that will hurt normal Americans, do your best to drag China into the conversation.
Make no mistake; any tax on imported goods will be paid for by the American families and businesses that buy those goods. As a practical matter, the legislation proposed by Mr. Cramer would lay the foundation for a tax imposed by the bureaucracy and paid for by American families, companies and workers. Mr. Cassidy’s legislation would go ahead and impose that misery directly.
Mr. Cramer’s legislation directs the Department of Energy to set up the necessary infrastructure to tax imported goods. Most importantly, these taxes — or tariffs, if you prefer academic precision — could be imposed by the executive branch without the need for votes by Congress.
It’s a politician’s dream: They get more power, take cash from American taxpayers, expand the federal government, and never have to vote for any of it. It’s no wonder the Biden White House is excited about this new opportunity to expand the size and scope of the federal government.
The senators know all of this. They also know that voters don’t want to pay this tax and are unwilling to do so. MWR Strategies — of which this columnist is president — has been asking for years how much people are willing to pay to address climate change. For years, the median answer has been about $40 a year.
In December, when MWR Strategies posed that question on behalf of the American Energy Alliance and the Committee to Unleash Prosperity to 1,600 likely voters in eight swing states, the median response was $10 a year. More than one-third of the respondents — including 17% of surveyed Democrats — said that they were unwilling to pay anything at all to address climate change.
When we asked about this particular tax on imported goods, voters opposed it by almost a 2-1 margin. There was overwhelming agreement that the federal government should not make energy more expensive, should avoid actions that would increase inflation, and should not raise taxes on energy.
Yet this legislation — and the Biden administration — would do all that. It would make energy more expensive, aggravate inflation and raise taxes to address climate change. That’s why the sponsors of the legislation have hidden their efforts to increase energy prices in a verbal smoke screen about China. They know they are trying to sell an intensely unpopular idea.
Make no mistake: The energy border tax won’t affect China. American families, companies and workers will pay this tax on imported goods.
The Biden administration probably doesn’t care about that, but Republican senators should. Or at least they should be embarrassed to be aligned with the Biden White House on such a terrible, destructive idea.
• Michael McKenna is a contributing editor at The Washington Times and the president of MWR Strategies.
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