How would you like to have your property taxes go up every year by 10%, with the rate set by three unelected drones? Would you like to see a massive wealth transfer financed by this tax?
Of course, it won't be called a property tax. That system of taxation is out of vogue. In vogue is the practice of finding a sinner and imposing a sin tax on him for the greater good.
The new sin is greenhouse gas production, and the sinners are those who produce, directly or indirectly, carbon dioxide.
It's not a property tax, it's a .........carbon tax.
The author of this little monster is Fort Collins resident Sue Radford. She ran for the state legislature in 2006 and lost. She has written an initiative she smugly calls the Colorado Clean Energy Tax Shift. (pdf) It isn't a tax shift. It is a wealth transfer on a massive scale from those who own property to those who don't.
This tax would be on each metric ton of carbon dioxide (CO2) produced by utilities for the generation of electricity. The first year, it would be $25, and for ten years increment by $25 a year. Once beyond ten years, it would increment on a 10% per year geometric progression.
To put this potential tax monster into perspective, Colorado generated 45 million metric tons of CO2 in 2004 for electricity production. By now it almost certainly generates 50 million metric tons, a number we will use for illustration.
The first year, this tax bill has the potential to be $1.25 billion. By year ten it would be $12.5 billion and would start going up by 10% a year after that. By year 17, it could be, if incremented by the 10% a year provided for in this initiative, $25 billion, and by year 24, it would be 50 billion. It only takes until year 32 until this tax hits $100 Billion.
Putting this into perspective, the state government will spend $18 billion in 2008-2009.
If this monster goes into the constitution, every person on fixed income who owns a home can expect to lose it within not more than 20 years.
Of course, Sue Radford doesn't want to see the legislature control this giant pot of money, but she does have a few selected charities that she wants to fund:
Earned income tax credit supplement fully funded at 20% of federal level.
Thirty percent (30%) of remaining funds used to reduce sales tax.
Twenty percent (20%) of remaining funds used to rebate business personal property tax.
Twenty percent (20%) of remaining funds used to rebate payroll taxes.
Thirty percent (30%) of remaining funds used for per capita rebate to residents.
She even realizes that the "rebates" on Federally mandated payroll taxes will exceed the taxes paid, so she stipulates that the rebate be made even if it exceeds 100%
Welcome to the brave new world of Colorado Socialism.
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