The Conservative Front

Michelle Malkin has good things to say about Jason Chaffetz on her blog. She is referring specifically to Rep. Chaffetz’s Cap and Trade Disclosure Act, for which he is currently seeking co-sponsors.

The Republican Study Committee reports:

Rep. Jason Chaffetz is seeking original cosponsors for the Cap-and-Trade Tax Disclosure Act which will require utility companies to disclose and separately itemize the impact of cap-and-trade taxes on each customer’s utility bill. Sound tax policy requires that taxes should be visible to taxpayers and not buried in the cost of items we purchase. With this legislation, every utility customer – residential and business — will be able to identify the cost of cap-and-trade emissions that the utility is passing on to the customer. As regulated entities, utilities pass taxes on to customers, unlike unregulated companies that can also pass taxes on to shareholders and employees. The cap-and-trade tax is potentially the largest tax increase ever imposed. According to the Administration’s own budget document, the cost will be at least $646 billion over an eight-year period. No matter where you stand on the issue of cap and trade, both sides can agree that full disclosure and transparency are good public policy.

Some critics have said that cap and trade can’t be called a tax. Cap and Trade is a way for the government to collect revenue on energy used, while having private companies do the collecting. The effect would be the same as a national sales tax. Even some Liberal Democrats have opposed cap and trade because it is a regressive tax that will hit lower-income, working Americans the hardest.

The American people deserve full-disclosure on bills coming out of their government. Rep. Chaffetz’s bill would shine a light on the effects of the Cap and Trade tax, and expose it’s bottom line effects to American taxpayers.

Contact your representative and ask him or her to co-sponsor the Cap and Trade Disclosure Act.