Editor’s note: This commentary is by Arthur Hendrickson, a retired, concerned citizen who lives in Moretown.
[I] am not in favor of a Vermont carbon tax. However, a carbon tax, if adopted, should be one that returns the tax neutrally to all of us. A carbon tax should not be used to run the government in any form because it would be nothing more than a large sales tax. A carbon tax must be one that directly rewards for minimal use of carbon producing products. A carbon tax will not work unless everyone is treated the same.
The Vermont Legislature’s history is they cannot resist the temptation to spend money and grow government. So far, the carbon tax bills that have been proposed in the Vermont Legislature (H.395 and H.412) have complicated ways to spend the money by adjusting the sales tax, creating new programs and contain discriminatory tax credits. These bills have no reward and just increase the tax every year with the intent to torture their way to carbon reduction. It is likely most taxpayers will just accept the carbon tax increases and suppose lower sales taxes and tax credits have balanced things out while they actually would have a poorer quality of life.
The legislators that wrote the proposed bills do not seem to realize the average taxpayer cannot afford things such as the heat pump heating systems and hybrid cars needed for any measurable reduction in carbon.
A simple alternative to the Legislature’s proposed carbon taxes would be for the state to collect the taxes from the distributors of carbon containing products similar to House Bill 412. The distributors would then recoup by passing the taxes on to the consumers. The state would then divide the taxes collected from the distributors among all residents in a manner similar to the way Alaska’s government pays their oil dividends to all residents, equally, regardless of age, and tax free. This establishes a base for everyone’s carbon footprint. If a person’s yearly check exceeds the total of a year’s carbon taxes paid, they have made a profit and that would be their reward. Everyone, if they choose to, would have money to modify their carbon use. No matter what, just like in Alaska, when the checks are cashed the economy would get a boost. Instead of the Legislature spending, the people would. If a carbon tax is enacted this would be the fair and right thing to do.
All day long there are aircraft flying overhead leaving trails across the Vermont sky. There is no way Vermont can tax the tons upon tons of carbon emitted in the airplane exhaust and from smokestack emissions in the west. Vermont cannot stop our millions of tourists and skiers from causing pollution, let alone control our own residents from importing products containing carbon across state lines. The legislators that wrote the proposed bills do not seem to realize the average taxpayer cannot afford things such as the heat pump heating systems and hybrid cars needed for any measurable reduction in carbon. I think it would be wise for our legislators to fight carbon pollution through awareness and let our small population of 626,000 do our best to look out for our personal carbon footprints. The Legislature’s proposed carbon taxes just add to their long list of regressive taxes that are only a nuisance to the rich and a burden to the rest. We do not need a carbon tax.
