Taxes Upon Taxes Upon Taxes........

Government Decides
Tuesday, June 26, 2007 - FreeMarketNews.com
More often than not, implementing public policy with incomplete information, and then proceeding in spite of evidence to the contrary, seems to be the stock in trade of "the government" be it federal, state of local. In what may well turn out to be still another example of this concept, The Rocky Mountain News writes of Denver's new green plan:"The ambitious goal is to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 4.4 million metric tons by 2020, the equivalent of eliminating two small coal-fired power plants or taking 500,000 cars off the road. "Mayor John Hickenlooper has made the "climate action plan" a centerpiece of his second term in office. More than two dozen people from business and community groups met for several months with city staff to hammer out the plan. Many of them fear Colorado will be slammed hard by global warming, with more droughts and forest fires. "There was a sense we have to be bold,'" said Beth Conover, director of Greenprint Denver, the city office that coordinated the plan. "What's the cost of inaction to our water supply and tourism industry?"'In a statement having undertones of "you're stuck with it", Conover said:"You can think of them as penalties or you can think of them as market signals. There's some choice involved." On this same topic, Porter Stansberry writes in the S & A Digest:“Whether Denver's actions are good or bad for the environment, I can't say. But I do know this: Long after the purpose of these new taxes is forgotten, they will continue to be collected. And, 12 years from now, there will be more power plants along the Front Range, not less."Ironically, the Rocky Mountain News reports in the same edition that Denver has experienced its latest freeze on record, when temperatures slipped to 31 degrees on June 7. Only twice since records have been kept has Denver seen a frost in June – 1919 and 1951." Staff Reports - Free-Market News Network