Roper: TCI interstate carbon tax is imploding

By Rob Roper

The ink wasn’t dry on the Transportation and Climate Initiative (TCI) memorandum of understanding before Gov. Chris Sununu (R-New Hampshire) declared it a “boondoggle” that his state would never support. That first domino fell hard, and now several others are teetering.

In Connecticut, Gov. Ted Lamont, a Democrat who has an approval rating of 24 percent and is already bleeding political capital over his plan to bring back tolls on interstate highways, wants absolutely nothing to do with some cockamamie gas tax. Said Lamont about TCI, “Raising that gas tax, frankly, is what other states — mainly Republican states — have done to pay for transportation. I think it’s 100% paid for by Connecticut residents and probably not the way the to go.”

Rob Roper is the president of the Ethan Allen Institute.

In Maine, Gov. Janet Mills had been a strong supporter of TCI until word started to get out that increasing the cost of gasoline and diesel fuel was both regressive in nature and especially punitive to rural constituents. Maine, like Vermont, is almost entirely rural. So now feeling the heat, Mills is changing her tune. According to the Boston Globe, the Maine Democrat’s office said that “the challenges of climate and transportation issues for rural states like Maine are unique, and the state will be appropriately cautious when considering these issues.”

Rhode Island Gov. Gina Riamondo, a Democrat, is still on board with TCI, but that state’s speaker of the house, Nicholas Mattiello, is not so sure. According to the Providence Journal, he “effectively ruled out any tax increases proposed by fellow Democrat Gov. Gina Raimondo last month, including the potential gas tax hike emanating from a regional climate initiative, saying it ‘will be looked at very skeptically.’”

And, here in Vermont during his State of the State speech last week, Gov. Phil Scott said, without naming TCI specifically, that “I simply cannot support proposals that will make things more expensive for [rural and low income Vermonters].” Scott has been vehemently opposed to any form of carbon tax since his first run for governor in 2016.

If New Hampshire, Maine, Vermont, Connecticut and Rhode Island don’t participate in the TCI program, that would leave Massachusetts — whose governor, Charlie Baker, is probably TCI’s biggest booster — completely isolated. Baker himself is under increasing pressure by a growing, bi-partisan group of legislators who don’t like the regressive nature of the tax.

Rob Roper is president of the Ethan Allen Institute. Reprinted with permission from the Ethan Allen Institute Blog.

Image courtesy of Public domain

10 thoughts on “Roper: TCI interstate carbon tax is imploding

  1. I thought there was supposed to be a total of fifteen states that the TCI was targeting.
    Either way, it’s good news that other states besides NH who are seeing the light.

  2. This recent study in Finland shows CO2 has minimal effect on climate and global warming.
    https://arxiv.org/pdf/1907.00165.pdf

    “In this paper we will prove that GCM-models used in IPCC report AR5 fail to calculate the influences of the low cloud cover changes on the global temperature.

    That is why those models give a very small natural temperature change leaving a very large change for the contribution of the greenhouse gases in the observed temperature.

    This is the reason why IPCC has to use a very large sensitivity to compensate a too small natural component.

    Further, they have to leave out the strong negative feedback, due to the clouds, in order to magnify the sensitivity.
    In addition, this paper proves that the changes in the low cloud cover fraction practically control the global temperature.

  3. Another Dem/Prog moist-dream fantasy going up in flames.

    What other nutty ideas will be next?
    Blittersdorf’s 80-y-old el-crappo trains?
    Electric buses, at $350,000 each, everywhere?

    “TCI will distribute a FRACTION of the allowances revenues to states?”

    After paying exorbitant salaries and expenses to the TCI organization and wise bureaucrats thinking up and administering this cumbersome TCI scheme, what happens to the fraction, after exorbitant expenses, that is NOT distributed to states?

    This looks to me like another costly boondoggle about to go viral.
    New England needs it like another hole in the head!

    The TCI scheme is wide open to fraud, waste and abuse, as there will be minimal, to no, meaningful oversight, other than by pre-selected insiders who agree with the TCI agenda, i.e., the fox guarding the hen house!!!

    TCI will become a proxy CARBON TAX collector for states, AT A FAT FEE. Vermont needs that like another hole in the head!

    Legislators in each state do not have to vote for much-hated CARBON TAXES, which would be increasing each year, until we all croak.

    They would be “off the hook”. They would say with sad faces: “I know you pay more taxes, but it is not my fault, and re-elect me anyway. Bull manure!
    November is near. Vote the bums out. Term limits.

    Legislators of each state should be ashamed to allow a large amount of hard-earned CARBON TAX money being mis-appropriated by a TCI “super-state” entity over which they likely would have minimal, or no, control.
    Another autonomous/out-of-control Big Brother Entity.

    Analysis shows the new CARBON taxes would add up to about $56 BILLION, due to fuel dealers buying allowances over 10 years, to reduce CO2 by an additional 1% to 6%, above what would be reduced by EXISTING policies. That sounds really cost effective!!

    TCI is legal? Oh no, it is a robbery, developed/supported by know-nothing politicians who need funding for more untested, unproven “programs” that would further increase Vermont State government budgets, i.e., INCREASE the tax burden on hard-working Vermonters.

    TCI is not serious about dealing with the issue of climate. Airline travel is FAR worse.
    There are about 20,000 commercial jetliners in the air.
    All burn a large quantity of DIRTY jet fuel; much, much dirtier than ULS fuel, propane and natural gas.
    Airline travel climate impact is a factor 6 to 47 times greater than the impact from car travel, because its CO2 and major particulate pollution is released in the UPPER atmosphere.

    Raising gas prices in tiny Vermont will have ZERO effect on global warming, but it provides lots of “feel good halo” to Dem/Prog Volvo-Democrats.

    As for the people who cannot afford higher fuel prices? Well, they can take the bus.

    How are these $350,000 electric buses working out?

    And no one seems to mention that increasing the price of fuel will increase the price of everything else – your groceries come on a truck.

    And for all you people who voted for the current Dem/Prog legislators, because you hate Trump (induced by endless Media anti-Trump barrages), please do ponder your vote when you’re gassing up, or when you will be in the voting booth in November; JUST VOTE NO.

    • Or at the very least embarrass the leftist fascist taxocrats at every opportunity that this is a tax that hurts the poor and middle class.

      Making VT affordable for the AGENDA OF WARMONGERING..

  4. This is excellent news! Finally more people are taking a stand against impractical and whimsical ideas, spending and new TAXES! Let’s keep putting the pressure on our legislators.

  5. Yay! Thanks for this! Looking over the stories here is depressing. Cable news is also. All the Dems do day and night is make life difficult for everyone, attempt to take away our rights and freedoms and ruin life as we know it. After reading gun confiscation story was so angry that there are such hateful useless ppl in this world and in our state. Thanks for bringing a little bit of good news on a cold dark night.

    • …………… and create huge messes for others to clean up. The TCI is the worst of the worst, People need to inform the Governor that he would be very correct in giving this TCI non-sense the boot.

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