Gov. Inslee hiding money grab behind ‘moral obligation’

Taken from Tuesday’s edition of The Jason Rantz Show.

In his State of the State address, Gov. Jay Inslee pushed hard for the carbon tax that was included in his budget proposal.

Rather than raising the gas tax on everyone, under my plan it’s the polluters who pay,” said Inslee. “We face many challenges but it is the growing threat of carbon pollution that can permanently change the nature of Washington as we know it. It’s already increasing the acidity of our state’s waters. It’s increasing wildfires and increasing asthma rates in our children, particularly in low-income communities and communities of color. We have a moral obligation to act. Our moral duty is to protect a birthright. Future Washingtonians deserve a healthy Washington.

To this point of a “moral obligation,” the tax would not even stop the pollution. These companies will just pay the fine. They’ll pass along the cost to the consumer. They’re still going to keep polluting, they’ll just take on the cost. With that pollution money, with that asthma-inducing money coming from these polluters, the governor will use it to build infrastructure.

He’s using that asthma money. That doesn’t seem very moral. If this was purely about the morality of it, you wouldn’t take their money, you would do something to actually stop them.

In theory, if this is solely about morality and you’re sole reason behind doing this is to stop pollution, wouldn’t it be in your best interest to raise rates? In fact, why not make the penalty astronomical, a billion dollars if you pollute. Make it so high that you’re forcing these businesses to stop the pollution.

But the truth is, this isn’t at all about pollution. This is about raising money for the state. I don’t disagree with anyone who wants to raise money for a state, but let’s, not for a second, think he’s making a moral push.

This is a money grab. A money grab that may very well make sense, but as soon as he throws in this nonsense about morality, you have to sit back and say let’s not pretend you’re a better person than I am. This is no more a moral obligation than you trying to get more money for the state and sticking it to businesses. In the process, the unintended consequence or, some might argue the intended consequence, is pushing that all upon the consumer.

Taken from Tuesday’s edition of The Jason Rantz Show.