Despite the Republican boycott of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee’s markup of the Kerry-Boxer Energy Tax bill. Despite not having a compete economic analysis of the bill. And despite opposition to the bill by key Democrat Max Baucus, Senator Boxer passed the bill anyway. This lack of bi-partisanship and transparency should worry not just the American people, but also other Senate Democrats.
Grover Norquist, President of Americans for Tax Reform said, “backroom deals where packages are rammed through with no transparency seem like business as usual – didn’t America elect a guy that was supposed to stop that?”
ATR notes on their website the economic impact this would have on the nation’s oil refineries, claiming this bill will increase the cost per barrel $0.50 to $1.20: an average increase of 20% to 50%. Additionally, by 2030, the costs would increase to $14.80 to $32.00 billion – per barrel increase of $2.70 to $7.20, which is a 100%-300% increase.
ATR issued a press release today, a PDF can be found here.