CQ Politics reports that the sponsors of the chief Senate climate change legislation are pleased with the cost estimate of the bill released by the Congressional Budget Office. That’s because their proposal won’t cost the federal government a dime. In fact, it will raise taxes by about $1.2 trillion over ten years. And CQ cryptically notes that it will ‘cost the private sector billions of dollars annually.’ This imprecise report led me to go and find the CBO estimate. What do they mean by ‘billions of dollars annually’?
So $1.2 trillion in new taxes, and about $100 billion more a year in compliance costs borne by the private sector. Given that concerns about jobs and economic growth are now the overriding issue for the 2008 election, is it really smart for Democrats to push a measure that’s likely to be a major job killer, and a drag on economic growth?
