The Transportation Climate Initiative (TCI) is just another money-laundering scheme to funnel your cash into state coffers while freeing local politicians from having to take the blame for its very real impact on your day-to-day life.
They are robbing you, but most stories ignore the theft like this one from WTNH News 8.
The TCI regional plan would cut down on greenhouse gas emissions from cars and trucks, which, in turn, will mean higher gas prices for everyone.
This is at least partly honest. They mention that it would cost more at the pump, but public pressure could kill TCI in the crib, and people would rise in opposition if the media and politicians were even a little more honest (Steve burns hand on rhetorical crack pipe).
That is, of course, probably why truth is conspicuously absent.
These hikes in prices will not only (always) grow but will hit middle and low-income people and families hardest.
It’s a regressive tax.
In contrast, upper-income folks won’t even notice. It will have no impact on their behavior or lifestyle. And not just at the pump.
This fake inflation will make the cost of everything go up, and that will further erode whatever discretionary income you have. If you have none, it pushes you into a hole or further into a hole out of which your boss – whose costs go up as well – may not be able to lift you with higher pay or better benefits.
Related: Danger Will Robinson: New TCI Talking Point Begins With “Once in a Generation Opportunity…”
So, yes – smaller to middle-sized job creators will also be hit hardest.
There is no mention of this in the mainstream reporting, which brings us to the biggest lie by omission. The thing they are hiding.
The Transportation Climate Initiative can only cut emissions (whether you believe that means anything or not) by making it too expensive for people to travel.
If the TCI folks are not happy with the initial results (and they will never be happy), an unelected board can and will raise those taxes until they have made mobility a freedom you can no longer afford.
Look to the New Green Deal for proof. That plan ends casual and commercial travel by any form, restricting it to the elites or self-essential classes—the same folks pushing TCI.
It’s like taxing ammo until you can’t afford to exercise your right self-defense except with the family car, truck, SUV, or whatever you own, lease, or rent. The goal is not to reduce emissions (whether you believe that means anything or not). It is to make driving a luxury you can no longer afford and do not deserve.
This, in turn, advances another objective. It forces people into urban sprawl and onto public transportation, which they control.
It’s not just speech they want to suppress.
Related: TCI is a “poorly conceived, fundamentally regressive, and economically damaging proposal.”
TCI is a systematic pressure tactic to get people out of their automobiles onto trains and busses, and it has nothing to do with the Climate.
I don’t expect anyone in “The Media” to go that far, but it would be nice if they could point out exactly what the larger consequences are for low and middle-income job creators and citizens of adding new taxes they can’t get repealed. Ever.
TCI will cost or suppress jobs, wages, benefits, and opportunities for the people who need them most.
Closing note. It was already illegal for the state to join a program like TCI. Still, Governor Sununu recently signed HB373, which states that “New Hampshire shall not join, implement, or participate in any state, regional, or national low carbon fuel standards program or any similar program that requires quotas, caps, or mandates on any fuels used for transportation, industrial purposes, or home heating without seeking and receiving prior legislative and executive council approval.”
You need to keep picking away at them so they can’t screw the people without as many hurdles as possible.
Connecticut needs to figure that out and quickly.
Note: Minor edits after publication to improve clarity.