AEA, other energy groups support senator's fight to prevent carbon tax

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The American Energy Alliance (AEA) recently joined 24 other free-market groups in sending a letter to Sen. Roy Blunt (R-MO) in support of his resolution to oppose a carbon tax.

“We write today in support of your resolution expressing the sense of the Senate that a carbon tax would be detrimental to the United States economy,” the letter said. “While our organizations represent a diversity of interests and viewpoints, we share the belief that a free market empowers American families to achieve economic success, greater prosperity, and a higher quality of life. Conversely, policies that inhibit or distort the marketplace – like a carbon tax – act as an economic anchor, reducing prosperity and lowering the standard of living that American families have worked hard to attain.”

In the letter, the coalition also highlights the regressive impact of the carbon tax, citing Congressional Budget Office (CBO) statistics showing that under a hypothetical

$28-per-ton carbon tax. the poorest one-fifth of Americans would have tax costs 2.5 times higher than the wealthiest one-fifth.

“A carbon tax will inflict economic punishment on our nation’s families and businesses by deliberately making the energy they rely on every day – electricity, gasoline, diesel and natural gas – more expensive,” the letter said. “And not only would consumers’ energy bills and prices at the pump be driven upward, but as the nonpartisan (CBO) states, those higher fuel prices ‘would raise production costs and ultimately drive up prices for goods and services throughout the economy.’”




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