Congressman Lamar Smith, Twenty First Congressional
District of Texas
(WASHINGTON) – According to a recent CBS News report, the “Obama administration has privately concluded that a cap and trade law would cost American taxpayers up to $200 billion a year, the equivalent of hiking personal income taxes by about 15 percent.”
“We now have proof that the White House accepts behind closed doors what House Republicans have maintained all along – Cap and Trade is a hidden tax increase on all Americans,” said Smith. “This is a broken promise on the part of the President not to raise taxes on the middle class, period.”
A previously unreleased Treasury Department analysis puts the total in new taxes at $100 billion to $200 billion a year or $880.50 to $1,761 per American household.
This analysis, along with another memo on the issue, was recently uncovered through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) by the Competitive Enterprise Institute.
“The costs placed on the American people by this legislation was a key part of the debate in the House,” said Smith. “That the White House would conceal this information as they were promoting ‘The American Clean Energy and Security Act’ is pure deception.”
Smith voted against the legislation, which narrowly passed the House by only seven votes in June. The Senate has yet to take up the controversial bill.
