AUGUSTA, Maine — The beginning of March brings bad news for carbon tax supporters, who have been successful in getting legislation to impose the regressive tax introduced at the federal and state levels, but not in getting it enacted, not even in left-leaning, Democratic-run states that should be most inclined to welcome this policy.

A February 28 Maine House Committee on Energy Utilities and Technology hearing on legislation that would impose the nation’s first statewide carbon tax ended with Representative Deane Rykerson (D-Kittery), the legislator sponsoring the bill, announcing that he will pull his proposal and will instead push for a “Carbon Pricing Study Group” that will explore the topic and issue recommendations at a later date. The committee subsequently voted on March 7 against reporting Rykerson's carbon tax bill out of committee.

In the hours-long hearing on Representative Rykerson’s bill, 60 Maine residents testified in opposition to the proposed carbon tax, explaining the harm that the regressive tax would do to Maine families and employers. Only one person testified in favor of the bill. This strong display of public opposition to a carbon tax was instrumental in killing the bill in committee.

By reacting early to raise awareness about the destructive carbon tax that was being proposed and exposing the corrupt kickbacks and special interests it was going to be paying for, we were able to gather men and women of all ages from every corner of the state to march on the capital and send a clear message to lawmakers that the people of Maine stand united against new and useless taxes the would have crushed both Maine's economy as well as our middle and low income families,” says Waterville Mayor Nick Isgro, explaining how opponents of the carbon tax managed to come out victorious despite every branch of state government being under Democratic control.

Because there is “gridlock at the federal level,” writes Governing Magazine’s Elizabeth Daigneau, “activists are focusing their attention on states and cities where action on climate change seems more likely.”

Though green activists are taking their proposals for new taxes and regulations to the state level, they have been unable to get a carbon tax enacted, even in state legislatures where progressives hold the most sway. Maine becomes the most recent blue state to reject a carbon tax. Legislation to impose a carbon tax has also been introduced in Vermont, Rhode Island, Hawaii, Oregon, and other states, but all have declined to implement one. Americans for Tax Reform has put together a timeline of all the carbon tax proposals that have been rejected both in the U.S. and abroad. 

Ballot measures to enact the nation’s first statewide carbon tax were rejected by Washington State voters in both 2016 and 2018, the same elections that............................

Continue reading here:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/patrickgleason/2019/03/10/maine-become...

RELATED READING AND LISTENING

Click on Testimony, Energy, Utilities and Technology and 2/28/19 if clicking on the testifiers' names below do not work. And please do read some of these. A growing number of Mainers are quite tuned in to the "green" nonsense. The legislators thought that they would blow this by us, just as they did the expedited wind law. Perhaps the walls of their ivory towers are closing in on them.

http://www.mainelegislature.org/legis/bills/testimony.html?snum=129...

FOLLOWUP: Audio of EUT workshop portion on carbon tax (3/07/19) - "LD 434 - An Act to Price Carbon Pollution in Maine"

http://www.windtaskforce.org/profiles/blogs/followup-complete-audio...

NEW: Complete audio of EUT public hearing on carbon tax (2/28/19) -...

http://www.windtaskforce.org/profiles/blogs/public-hearing-on-thurs...

Public Hearing on Thurs, 2/26/19 at 1PM - "An Act to Price Carbon Pollution in Maine" (includes 22 CTFWP comments)

http://www.windtaskforce.org/profiles/blogs/public-hearing-on-thurs...

ACTION ALERT: NEW CARBON TAX WILL INCREASE THE COST OF HOME HEATING AND GASOLINE IN MAINE

http://www.windtaskforce.org/profiles/blogs/action-alert-new-carbon...

The bill itself

Presented by Representative RYKERSON of Kittery.
Cosponsored by Senator MIRAMANT of Knox and
Representatives: AUSTIN of Skowhegan, BABBIDGE of Kennebunk, BEEBE-CENTER of
Rockland, BERRY of Bowdoinham, BLUME of York, BROOKS of Lewiston, BRYANT of
Windham, CARDONE of Bangor, CARNEY of Cape Elizabeth, COOPER of Yarmouth,
CRAVEN of Lewiston, DAUGHTRY of Brunswick, DODGE of Belfast, DOORE of Augusta,
DOUDERA of Camden, DUNPHY of Old Town, EVANGELOS of Friendship,
FARNSWORTH of Portland, FAY of Raymond, FOLEY of Biddeford, Speaker GIDEON of
Freeport, GRAMLICH of Old Orchard Beach, GROHOSKI of Ellsworth, HANDY of
Lewiston, HARNETT of Gardiner, HEPLER of Woolwich, HOBBS of Wells, HUBBELL of
Bar Harbor, HYMANSON of York, INGWERSEN of Arundel, JORGENSEN of Portland,
KORNFIELD of Bangor, LANDRY of Farmington, MADIGAN of Waterville, MATLACK of
St. George, McCREA of Fort Fairfield, McCREIGHT of Harpswell, MEYER of Eliot, O'NEIL
of Saco, PEBWORTH of Blue Hill, PERRY of Calais, RECKITT of South Portland,
ROBERTS-LOVELL of South Berwick, SCHNECK of Bangor, SHARPE of Durham,
STOVER of Boothbay, SYLVESTER of Portland, TEPLER of Topsham, TIPPING of Orono,
TUCKER of Brunswick, WARREN of Hallowell, ZEIGLER of Montville, Senators:
BELLOWS of Kennebec, BREEN of Cumberland, DILL of Penobscot, GRATWICK of
Penobscot, MILLETT of Cumberland, SANBORN, H. of Cumberland, SANBORN, L. of
Cumberland, VITELLI of Sagadahoc.

Page 1 - 129LR0187(01)-1
1 Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:
2 Sec. 1. 35-A MRSA §1508-A, sub-§1, as amended by PL 2011, c. 623, Pt. B, §5,
3 is further amended to read:
4 1. Penalty. Unless otherwise specified in law, the commission may, in an
5 adjudicatory proceeding, impose an administrative penalty as specified in this section.
6 A. For willful violations of this Title, a commission

The full bill:

http://legislature.maine.gov/bills/display_ps.asp?PID=1456&snum...

Or download a copy here:

Maine%20129%20-%20HP%20343%20item%201%20-%20Copy.pdf

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