By Rob Roper
A recent Op-Ed by Sabrina Melendez, a self-described climate activist and student at Bennington College, leaves one’s mouth agape, wondering if the author actually expects anyone to buy what she’s saying about the carbon tax, or if she even buys this baloney herself.
This remarkable piece starts off, “Imagine getting a $500 check in the mail once a year. … To top it off, imagine that merely receiving this $500 check is in some way helping to reduce the worst effects of climate change, creating a better future for generations to come. This is what is means to put a price on carbon.”
Folks, this is what it means to run a scam. Put it up there with the email you got from the guy in Uganda who wants to wire you lottery winnings. Just hand over your bank account number! Support the carbon tax, and get free money! The lie here is in that even in the best case scenario the $500 check Melendez imagines would be significantly less than the amount paid in Carbon Taxes. More accurately, imagine giving the government $500 in taxes and getting back $450 (90%) minus an undetermined amount of processing fees. And, not for nothing, the state reserves the right to keep more or all of that money depending upon its own priorities. Ready to sign up now?
Nor would this policy in little old Vermont have ANY impact on global climate trends, let alone “reduce the worst effects.” Late night commercials on cable TV for miracle weight loss pills are more honest than this!
She admits, “We used to call it a carbon tax, until we realized that it gave individuals the impression that they would be taxed for their carbon emissions.” It gives the impression because that’s exactly what an excise tax – which is what the proposed carbon tax is — does! Do smokers not pay the excise tax on cigarettes? I guess we should at least thank Ms. Melendez for admitting that she and her fellow Carbon Tax advocates have made a conscious decision to be dishonest and deceptive about what it is they are proposing.
Melendez also has the stones to say, with a straight face, “Unlike climate activists.., the billionaire CEOs of ExxonMobil and Shell are not concerned with the disproportionate burden that raising gas prices would have on low- and middle-income Vermonters,” when it’s the climate activists themselves who are the ones calling for this massive increased price in gas, etc! It is they who would be the cause of the disproportionate burden that would (thanks again for being honest on this point) hammer the middle class. And, no, they don’t care.
In fact, they celebrate the negative impact because it would force middle class, and every class, Vermonters to not buy fossil fuels. That’s their point! If you don’t feel acute pain, you won’t change your behavior, so, you will be made to feel acute pain. Hooray!
Seriously, take a moment to read this article. It’s both scary and amusing. I can’t believe this young, educated woman thinks such nonsense can possibly be persuasive or even helpful to her cause. She has either been brainwashed to the point where she’s not thinking about what she’s saying, or thinks that the rest of us are incredibly stupid.
Rob Roper is president of the Ethan Allen Institute. Reprinted with permission from the Ethan Allen Institute Blog.
I have been part of Vermont for most of my life. I remember waking up in the camp that my parents rented on lake bomoseen and going out fishing in the fog. I am so sad to see what has happened to this wonderful place. The government agencies that were created to preserve Vermont are destroying it. Burlington is doing great, the rest of Vermont is in a rapid rate of decay.
Joe
This ladies stones are blocking her ‘truth gland”
The absurdity that a carbon tax would just be sent back to the victims, can only be called
*&^%(*!@#)(*_