How to Hide a Trillion Dollars
David Kreutzer /
The Obama Administration’s recent budget has some of the most revealing text in the smallest font. Put on your green eyeshade and get out your wonk decoder ring. We’re heading down into the weeds to hunt budget big game.
Footnote 5 of Table S-6 starts off “Shown here are those proceeds from auctioning emission allowances that are reserved for clean energy technology initiatives and to compensate families through the Making Work Pay tax cut.” This is in reference to “Total, climate revenues” of $645,711,000,000 which are to come from the President’s cap-and-trade restrictions on carbon dioxide.
The implication in the table is that total climate revenues would be $645,711,000,000. But this is not the total, it is just what’s spent for two items—the energy technology initiatives and Make Work Pay.
Any question about this is cleared up later in the footnote, “All additional net proceeds will be used to further compensate the public.”
How large might be those “additional net proceeds?” In very round numbers, try $1,000,000,000,000. That’s right one trillion dollars. Though, it will likely be much more. (more…)