Carbon Tax is a Distraction from Pressing Environmental Issues like Polluted Merrimack River and Recycling Industry’s Rising Costs

In July, the Fiscal Alliance Foundation announced the results of a study into the effects of H.2810, An Act to Promote Green Infrastructure and Reduce Carbon Emissions. The study was commissioned by the Foundation and conducted by the Beacon Hill Institute (BHI). David Tuerck, BHI’s President, plans to offer testimony at today’s 1pm Telecommunications Utilities and Energy Committee hearing on the carbon tax bill. A full copy of the study is available by clicking here. 

The study found that the average Massachusetts household will see its tax bill increase by $755 in the first year. By the fifth year, that annual tax load will increase to $1,263. Massachusetts would see a loss of 11,090 private sector jobs in its first year, increasing to 18,240 by its fifth.

Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance made the following statement today.

“The Massachusetts carbon tax is just that, a tax and nothing more. It would eliminate tens of thousands of private sector jobs and result in a $755 tax per household. The only thing it wouldn’t significantly eliminate is carbon emissions. The study commissioned by the Foundation indicates the reduction would be negligible. It’s another example of a reckless proposal, echoing many points found in Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s Green New Deal, conceived without any thought to its consequences,” stated Paul D. Craney, spokesperson for Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance.

Under the carbon tax bill, the environmental benefits to the Commonwealth would be insignificant. Massachusetts accounts for only 0.12% of global GHG emissions, meaning the tax would reduce global emissions by 0.0027% in the first year of implementation, increasing to 0.0035% by the fifth year. Practically speaking, this diminutive benefit would not mitigate sea water levels, cure asthma, or impact the daily lives of any person or living creature on earth.

“The Massachusetts carbon tax bill does not address the most obvious problem for the bill’s effectiveness, which is that Massachusetts cannot control what air enters the state and what air leaves the state,” continued Craney.

“As more lawmakers get swept into the hysteria of the climate alarmists, and tie their hopes behind a misguided and very expensive carbon tax bill, it means they are not working on solving other more important environmental problems facing the state like the clean up of the polluted Merrimack River and addressing the recycling industry’s rising costs,” concluded Craney.