CBO: Cap-And-Trade to Cost $175 Per Household

June 23, 2009

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The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates that the U.S. cap-and-trade program will cost $22 billion annually, or about $175 per household, by 2020.

This figure includes the cost of restructuring the production and use of energy and of payments made to foreign entities under the program, reports CBO. However, it does not include the economic benefits and other benefits of the reduction in GHG emissions and the associated slowing of climate change, according to the CBO analysis.

The CBO report examines the average cost per household that would result from the implementation of the GHG cap-and-trade program under H.R. 2454, as well as how that cost would be spread among households with different levels of income.

Reducing emissions of GHGs would moderate the damage associated with climate change and the risk of significant damage, but it would also impose costs on the economy, reports CBO. In the case of carbon dioxide CO2 — which accounts for 85 percent of U.S. GHG emissions — higher costs would stem from the fact that most economic activity is based on fossil fuels that contain carbon and produce GHG emissions when burned, according to the analysis.

Under cap-and-trade, the federal government would put a limit on greenhouse gases from most sectors of the U.S. economy with the cap divided into billions of permits, reports Bloomberg News. Each permit is equivalent to one metric ton of carbon dioxide. CBO estimates that the price of an allowance would be $28 in 2020.

By annually reducing the supply of these permits, the cap-and-trade legislation written by House Democrats Henry Waxman of California and Ed Markey of Massachusetts would lower the limit on greenhouse gases to 17 percent less than 2005 levels by 2020, according to Bloomberg News.

The CBO analysis estimates that the legislation will cost the richest U.S. households $245 a year, and the poorest will see gains of $40 a year.

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Reader Comments

The report is another ridiculous LIE of the Obama administration.

As per a leaked memo from the Obama administration, cap and trade would reduce household income by more than $7,000 each and every year.
http://www.heartland.org/publications/environment%20climate/article/25508/Economic_Studies_Support_Leaked_Memo.html

Obama’s ACES Act (cap and trade), however, will cost us much, much more than $7,000 per household! It will cost many of us our businesses. It will cost many of us our jobs. It will cost all of us our freedoms and our future.

No patriotic and informed American can support the ACES Act (global warming/cap and trade scam), a huge Ponzy scheme that will kill the U.S. economy.

Cap and Trade “would be the equivalent of an atomic bomb directed at the U.S. economy—all without any scientific justification,” says famed climatologist Dr. S. Fred Singer. It would significantly increase taxes and the cost of energy, forcing many companies to close, thus increasing unemployment, poverty and dependence.

Cap and trade represents huge taxes and cost increases, which will hurt mostly the poor and the middle class. Cap and trade will give dictatorial powers to Obama and will further enrich his billionaire friends (Gore, Soros, Goldman Sachs, Obama’s Chicago Climate Exchange friends, GE, the United Nations, etc.) — all at our expense and at the expense of our children and grandchildren.

Those brainwashed to the point of wanting to destroy the economy to “prevent global warming” are behaving like the most primitive human beings who were duped into believing that human sacrifices would ensure them good weather. Human beings don’t have the power to control climate! And killing the economy will not help the environment. Poor countries can’t protect the environment. Just look at Haiti!

AntonioSosa | June 23rd, 2009

Nancy Pelosi along with her cronies condemmened the CBO figures for healthcare reform, saying they were too subjective and costs would be lower than CBO estimates. Now they tout CBO estimates for cap and trade. These flip-flops are not being reported and democrats continue to be arrogant because their supporters are ignorant of the truth

donna scala | July 5th, 2009