Campaign for Vermont finally asked Vermonters directly the question our elected representatives have been avoiding for years in regard to their Global Warming Solutions Act (GWSA) fantasies: How much are you willing to pay to support the law’s greenhouse gas reduction mandates?
Vermonters’ overwhelming answer: not a #*&% thing!
When asked, “How much a year should Vermont residents be asked to pay in increased taxes in order to meet the Paris Climate Accord’s target of being carbon-neutral?” 50 percent answered nothing at all. Another 15 percent said $10 a year or less, and 23% said between $10 and $100 a year.
Ummmm… that ain’t gonna cut it. Just the thermal sector portion of the GWSA, the Clean Heat Standard, is estimated to cost the average Vermont household over $500 a year. The transportation portion, when enacted, is likely to cost Vermont drivers in the neighborhood of $10 per fill up. Changes to the Renewable Energy Standard under discussion for next year are estimated to add tens, potentially hundreds, of millions of dollars to Vermonters’ electric bills over the next decade. And all of these estimates are conservative. Back to the poll….
The policies for how to extract this money from the populace were even more unpopular. Asked if they supported or opposed “A plan by the State Legislature to subsidize CLEAN home heating systems and weatherization improvements by imposing a surcharge or tax on carbon-based home heating fuel, such as natural gas, home heating oil, kerosene, propane, and other forms of fuel,” 63 percent of Vermonters opposed the law, a majority (52 percent) strongly so. This sentiment was reflected in the tsunami of calls and emails lawmakers received before the Clean Heat Standard bill votes last spring. But, in spite of their constituents, 120 out of 126 Democrats in the House and Senate supported and voted to override Governor Scott’s veto of the Clean Heat Standard Bill (S.5/Act 18). Every Republican, like the majority of Vermonters, opposed this carbon tax.
Ummmm… that ain’t gonna cut it. Just the thermal sector portion of the GWSA, the Clean Heat Standard, is estimated to cost the average Vermont household over $500 a year. The transportation portion, when enacted, is likely to cost Vermont drivers in the neighborhood of $10 per fill up. Changes to the Renewable Energy Standard under discussion for next year are estimated to add tens, potentially hundreds, of millions of dollars to Vermonters’ electric bills over the next decade. And all of these estimates are conservative. Back to the poll….
The policies for how to extract this money from the populace were even more unpopular. Asked if they supported or opposed “A plan by the State Legislature to subsidize CLEAN home heating systems and weatherization improvements by imposing a surcharge or tax on carbon-based home heating fuel, such as natural gas, home heating oil, kerosene, propane, and other forms of fuel,” 63 percent of Vermonters opposed the law, a majority (52 percent) strongly so. This sentiment was reflected in the tsunami of calls and emails lawmakers received before the Clean Heat Standard bill votes last spring. But, in spite of their constituents, 120 out of 126 Democrats in the House and Senate supported and voted to override Governor Scott’s veto of the Clean Heat Standard Bill (S.5/Act 18). Every Republican, like the majority of Vermonters, opposed this carbon tax.
