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Dori: Inslee’s I-1631 commercial is full of inaccuracies
Nov 2, 2018, 5:53 AM
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I saw this commercial in which Jay Inslee is campaigning for I-1631, the initiative to establish a carbon tax. This is the tax that will take billions of dollars from the citizens of this state to do zero for the planet. It will cost families, initially, about $300 a year, and will then ramp up to about $1,000 per family per year. All to do absolutely nothing for the planet.
The first part of the commercial that I find ridiculous is when Inslee says, “Remember the smoke?” He goes on to talk about how it was smoky here over the summer. Do you know why it was so smoky? Because there were forest fires. Where were the forest fires? In British Columbia. Do you know what British Columbia has? A carbon tax.
So wait a second — a carbon tax did not stop forest fires. And you’re telling people to vote for a multi-billion-dollar tax that will do nothing for the planet because British Columbia, which has a carbon tax, had forest fires, and the smoke drifted down here. That is about the most dishonest argument you can make. Our state had nothing to do with the smoke, other than the fact that we were under it as it floated over us.
The next argument is, “It’s going to improve our health.” It’s not going to do anything to improve our health. You’re giving exemptions to the powerful companies that produce some of the greatest emissions, like Boeing, all because they have the best lobbyists. So tell me how that will help our health.
I-1631 will do nothing. It is just a way for the state to get billions of dollars more in revenue. It will raise the gas tax an estimated 59 cents a gallon. Who is going to get hit the hardest by this? The poor. The working class. The house cleaners who drive from job to job. They are going to be the ones by far who feel the greatest impact of a tax that sends gasoline prices skyrocketing. But our government does not care about the poor or the working class.
Vote no on I-1631. It sends billions of dollars to the government and hits your family for hundreds a year. It’s an insane, insane initiative. Or you can do your feel-good virtue signaling. It’ll just cost you a bundle to do it.
RELATED: Inslee using lightning-caused wildfires to push bogus I-1631 carbon tax
RELATED: Why the Cato Institute gave Inslee a failing grade
