The Cost of Government, Carbon Taxes and Sugar Subsidies
Today is Tax Day, the day when Americans think most about how much the government is costing them.
James Hansen writes in The Huffington Post, proposing a direct tax on carbon-based fuels.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture may increase sugar quotas.
1. GOVERNMENT
Today is Tax Day, the day when Americans think most about how much the government is costing them.
CEI Expert Available to Comment: Vice President Wayne Crews on the cost of federal regulations.
“The government’s reach extends well beyond the taxes that Washington collects and the deficit spending and borrowing now surging. Federal environmental, safety and health, and economic regulations cost hundreds of billions of dollars every year over and above the costs of the official federal outlays that now dominate the policy agenda.”
2. ENVIRONMENT
James Hansen writes in The Huffington Post, proposing a direct tax on carbon-based fuels.
CEI Expert Available to Comment: Senior Fellow Marlo Lewis on the problems with Hansen’s proposal.
“Within 20 years, Hansen’s policy would raise the price of carbon to $215 per ton of CO2. Coal would cease to be an economic electricity fuel long before then, yet half our current electric supply and more than half of our base-load power come from coal. The premature death of coal-based power would jeopardize electric supply reliability and drive electricity rates through the roof. That in turn would have devastating effects on jobs and growth.”
3. TRADE
The U.S. Department of Agriculture may increase sugar quotas.
CEI Expert Available to Comment: Adjunct Scholar Fran Smith on why the US sugar program should be terminated.
“It’s a central planning approach that raises the cost of sugar and sugar-containing products for consumers, causes job losses as confectionery firms are hit by higher costs, and harms poor sugar-producing countries that can’t compete with U.S. ‘subsidized’ sugar. See some CEI ideas for terminating this program.”