Manchin Breaks his Word, Threatens West Virginians with Carbon Taxes

Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) is reportedly willing to back a carbon tax to fund a version of President Biden’s trillion-dollar socialist tax-and-spend bill, a violation of his commitment last year to West Virginian voters that he would not support any carbon tax.

Manchin told Axios on Thursday he’s “earnestly engaged” in talks with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) over a $1.1 trillion tax-and-spend package that includes roughly $300 billion in “green” energy subsidies.

Additional reporting from Reuters claims Manchin told multiple sources that he supports a carbon tax at the border and an additional tax on methane from American oil and gas development, costs that will be passed on to households.

Manchin’s willingness to support these carbon taxes on American energy directly contradicts his commitment from February of last year that he would not support “any kind of” carbon tax legislation.

“They want to talk about this as a penalty? Forget it. As long as I’m here and there’s 50 votes and it takes 51 to pass it,” Manchin replied when asked if there are 50 votes in the US Senate for “any kind of aggressive carbon pricing in the next couple of years.”

Manchin’s “carbon border tax” would implement new taxes on imports based upon their greenhouse gas emissions, passing on increased costs to consumers in the form of higher prices for gasoline and household energy. Such a tax would come at a time when Americans are paying record high prices at the pump with the cost of gasoline averaging $4.60 per gallon across the U.S.

Manchin’s tax on methane emissions from natural gas production likely resembles the previous Democrat proposal included in the House-passed version of the “Build Back Better” bill. That plan would’ve imposed an $8 billion regressive tax on oil and gas development based upon emission levels of methane during production, leading to higher energy bills for consumers and higher costs of everyday products.