Letter to the editor: Carbon fee, dividend is wealth redistribution scheme

The carbon fee and dividend process (the Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act) supported by Citizens’ Climate Lobby is advertised as a revenue-neutral means of reducing U.S. carbon dioxide emissions from fossil-fuel combustion. This plan is little more than a wealth redistribution scheme masquerading as a cure for the “climate crisis.”

The author of the 2016 report prepared for CCL, “Impact of CCL’s proposed carbon fee and dividend policy: A high-resolution analysis of the financial effect on U.S. households,” states: “This pattern results in a net transfer of money from upper-income to lower-income households. … The primary distributional effect is to shift purchasing power from the top quintile to the bottom two quintiles.”

CCL claims that the “dividend” will offset increased costs for the lowest 40% on the income scale. Result: The poor will be no better off, the wealthy will be a bit less wealthy and the real sting of the price of carbon will hit the middle class.

To add insult to injury, the carbon “dividend” will be treated as taxable income so the politicians, citing IRS data, can happily proclaim that the carbon tax has actually increased the income for 40% of Americans, even though that increased “income” is consumed by the price of carbon.

It’s smoke and mirrors. Sure, our CO2 emissions will decrease as manufacturing moves to countries where carbon is cheaper, and lost jobs will increase the ranks of the unemployed.

Tell Sen. Bob Casey this carbon tax scheme does not look like a good deal for anyone.

Bob Horger

Penn Township, Westmoreland County