ICYMI: Carbon tax could raise gas prices by 90 cents a gallon
During a town hall earlier this month, Mike Levin doubled down on his support for carbon pricing.
According to a Columbia University report, the carbon tax and dividend bill Levin cosponsored “would raise gas prices by as much as 90 cents per gallon by 2030.”
If Mike Levin had his way, Californians would be paying 90 cents more per gallon.
In Case You Missed It…
Analysis: Gas Prices Spell Trouble for Green Dems
Susan Crabtree
RealClearPolitics
May 19, 2022
Gasoline prices statewide surged 19 cents in one week to top $6 a gallon here Wednesday, with analysts warning that California’s record prices could soar higher still and spread to the rest of the country.
…
On Thursday, a closely divided House passed a measure targeting profiteering by oil companies – even though most economists, including prominent Democrats, have said there’s little evidence that such practices are behind the higher prices.
Jason Furman, President Obama’s top economic advisor, called the price-gouging measure’s call for fines on corporations for raising prices and price controls on gasoline “genuinely terrible ideas.” Democrats are under pressure to address the soaring prices, but the blame game isn’t doing anything to provide relief at the pump. Instead, it’s handing Republicans easy attack lines ahead of the pivotal congressional midterms.
Republicans for months have assailed Democrats for sticking to their green agenda as oil and gas prices have shot through the roof, including continuing to back carbon fees and higher gas taxes and oppose more drilling. California Democrats, in particular, are now finding themselves in a climate-change box – being forced to defend their “green” records while their constituents complain about paying the highest gas prices of their lives. Skyrocketing gas prices are now costing the average American household an extra $2,000 a year, eating into buying power and eroding wages, Yardeni Research said in an early March analysis.
Typical is the dilemma faced by Mike Levin, an environmental lawyer who represents this sprawling Southern California coastal district. Upon being elected in 2018, Levin immediately joined the House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis and called climate change “among the most important, if not the most important issue of our time.” Levin quickly endorsed progressives’ Green New Deal, which calls for weaning the nation off fossil fuels within a decade and which even Joe Biden has deemed too radical. Levin also pledged to “advocate to explore a carbon tax, cap-and-trade policies,” and “support clean energy and a transition away from fossil fuels.”
The two-term Democrat representing a coastal district straddling southern Orange County and northern San Diego County was one of four vulnerable California Democrats to vote for the price-gouging bill this week. The bill includes language Levin authored directing the Federal Trade Commission to proactively monitor and prevent any fraud or manipulation that may be artificially inflating gas prices.
The other three yes votes are: Reps. Josh Harder, Julia Brownley, and Katie Porter, who was a lead co-sponsor. The bill has no chance of passing the Senate with some on the left arguing it could produce the opposite of the current goal by decreasing oil and gas production, potentially creating supply shortages and rationing.
Florida Democratic Rep. Stephanie Murphy, one of four House Democrats to vote against the bill, complained that her party was passing “irresponsible” messaging bills that have little to no chance of bringing down gas prices. But instead of considering even a temporary hiatus from some gas and carbon taxes, Levin is doubling down on them.
During a town hall meeting earlier this month, he pledged to continue fighting for carbon pricing when a constituent asked him about it. He took the position even though the nonpartisan California Legislative Analyst Office, which serves as a research arm of the California state Senate and Assembly, estimated that such carbon tax policies would raise gas prices by an estimated 63 cents in 2021, increasing to 73 cents per gallon by 2031.
Both Levin and Porter co-sponsored a federal carbon tax and dividend bill last Congress. When RealClearPolitics asked whether Levin still backs that measure with gas prices so high, Levin spokesman Eric Mee defended his boss’s support for the bill. He cited a 2019 Columbia University report that said “revenues generated by any fee would be returned to the taxpayers, particularly low and middle-income earners.”
But the same Columbia University report also said the carbon tax and dividend bill would raise gas prices by as much as 90 cents per gallon by 2030, exporting California’s policies and prices nationwide, and that was before gas prices skyrocketed this year. Of all the fossil fuels, the measure would have the most significant impact on the coal industry, leading to an 81% reduction in coal production by 2030 compared to current policy, according to the same study.
…
Read more in RealClearPolitics, here.