Cap And Trade Redux: $1,761 Annually Per Family? Or Not?

Read the full analysis here

The Obama administration has privately concluded that a cap and trade law would cost American taxpayers up to $200 billion a year, the equivalent of hiking personal income taxes by about 15 percent... the total in new taxes would be between $100 billion to $200 billion a year. At the upper end of the administration's estimate, the cost per American household would be an extra $1,761 a year." Cap and trade is, of course, the idea of pollution credits, meaning that a pollution limit is established and industries can sell the right to emit carbon to each other.

In response to my article, the Treasury Department's Alan Krueger, assistant secretary for economic policy, said on Wednesday in an e-mail message: "Treasury's analysis is consistent with public analyses by the EIA, EPA, and CBO, and the reporting and blogging on this issue ignores the fact that the revenue raised from emission permits would be returned to consumers under both administration and legislative proposals."

I've asked the Treasury Department to explain why key portions were redacted from the internal report (PDF), which includes this line: "It will raise energy prices and impose annual costs on the order of XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX."

I still haven't received a response.

Sen. Lamar Alexander, a Tennessee Republican, has picked up on this unusual secrecy. His spokesman sent me this statement from his boss on Wednesday: "The current administration claims to be the most transparent in American history, yet it's been hiding a report showing its cap-and-trade energy plan would cost up to $200 billion every year. American families can't afford a new $1,761 yearly energy tax, and our economy surely cannot afford the 1-percent drop in productivity this big-government bill would cause. The best step we can take right now to lower energy costs, boost the economy, and clean our air would be to rely on a technology we created: nuclear power."