The Wall Street Journal blog had an interesting article yesterday by Mary Lu Carnevale on the coming budget discussions. Senator Bill Nelson (Democrat-Florida) was interviewed on Fox News Channel yesterday morning about the Obama Budget proposal.
Senator Nelson feels that in light of the latest Congressional Budget Office projections, the budget will definitely have to be reworked. When asked for specifics on how to raise the amounts of money for the budget, Senator Nelson said:
"Well, you're going to have to redo health care so that some of its upfront costs are less, so that you bring down the cost over the 10-year period. Likewise, you're going to have to speed up the revenues coming in from such things as possibly a cigarette tax, possibly -- as the cap-and-trade -- going into climate control."
Cap and trade is a tax plan that impacts everyone. The average family in American will see their energy costs skyrocket if cap and trade is enacted. It is simply a plan that allows the government to profit when you heat your house, cook, or wash clothes. The government already makes more money on a pack of cigarettes than the tobacco companies (the people who actually do the work). Why should the government make money on energy that they are not involved in the production or distribution of? If the government really wanted to make money on energy, they would lift the restrictions on off-shore drilling and collect the income taxes on the jobs created and the corporate taxes on the profits. That would be the free market answer to our economic problems.
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