A Vermont law passed in 2006 requires state regulators to adopt California emissions standards. And California wants zero-emissions new car sales by 2035.
State law requires zero-emissions new cars by 2035 – because California says so
McClaughry: Un-elected officials would set heating fuel ‘tax’ rate
Since when do appointees set tax rates?
Hansen: facilitate, don’t force energy transition
Who benefits from the forced transition to electric vehicles? Who loses?
Roper: Scott admin pushes Senate for follow-up Clean Heat Standard vote
Will Phil Scott drop the veto hammer on the Clean Heat Standard if it lacks a follow-up report? Time will tell.
Roll Call! House makes town withdrawal from school districts more difficult
Vermont public school mergers: easy to get into, hard to get out of. And harder still if a bill passed by the House March 17 becomes law.
State law requires zero-emissions new cars by 2035 – because California says so
A Vermont law passed in 2006 requires state regulators to adopt California emissions standards. And California wants zero-emissions new car sales by 2035.
Meg Hansen succeeds Rob Roper as EAI president
Meg Hansen has been appointed the new president of the Ethan Allen Institute, Vermont’s free-market think-tank.
Flemming: Senate Rental Registry bill debate colored by visions of ideal government
An influential Vermont state senator explains why more government is the answer to Vermont’s housing crisis.
Meg Hansen podcast ‘drops’ Feb. 21
A free-market think tank has launched a new podcast featuring host Meg Hansen interviewing informed guests about vital Vermont policy issues.
McClaughry: Gov. Scott’s Diamond Mine
Phil Scott has hit the mother lode: vast amounts of federal dollars borrowed, at interest, from current and future taxpayers of our great Republic.
Climate Council would double electricity usage – rolling blackouts feared
A cold snap could result in rolling blackouts if the Vermont Climate Council gets its way.
Roper: Climate Council no clue how to pay for ‘plan’
The Vermont Climate Council has plans a’plenty for carbon reduction but neither the money nor the workforce to make them happen.
McClaughry: Capital gains tax hike would stifle innovation
Democrats are now proposing to sharply raise capital gain taxes, which would kill incentives to invest in new businesses.
Climate warriors hope ‘Clean Heat Standard’ succeeds where carbon tax, TCI failed
The carbon tax struck out. TCI struck out. Next up at the plate: the Clean Heat Standard.
Vermont Climate Council lone cheerleader for floundering TCI
Vermont stands alone in its support for the carbon-taxxing, ‘regional’ Transportation & Climate Initiative.
McClaughry: a socialist faces reality
A socialist author warns fellow believers to get ready for a long, hard slog.
Flemming: Cut down forest to build solar panels?
Cut down carbon-eating forest to make room for a zillion solar panels? Mebbe not, Climate Council told.
VT ballot law ignores safeguards
While dismissing concerns as ‘disinformation,’ VT Secretary of State demanded and got a mailed ballot law that ignores safeguards for election integrity.
McClaughry: Holding legislators accountable
McClaughry expounds upon the virtues of single-member districts.
Flemming: the Mack Truck headed straight for you
High taxes, unapproved by Legislature. Bans on heating and cooking with gas and oil. Fewer cows! Electric vehicles ONLY. Gosh, what’s not to like about Vermont’s proposed “Global Warming Solutions”?
Left eager for another Sedition Act
Today the militant Left is keen to revive a Sedition Act to imprison anyone who gets too far out in front spreading “misinformation” criticizing the Biden Administration, or employing extralegal tactics to suppress free speech as the Sedition Acts did. We’ve done that twice, and both were dark chapters in this land of liberty.
Have lunch with Dana Perino
The Ethan Allen Institute, in partnership with Mass Fiscal Alliance, is sponsoring a virtual (Zoom) event with former press secretary for George W. Bush, current Fox News host, and author of the newly released Everything Will Be Okay: Life Lessons for Young Women (from a Former Young Woman), Dana Perino.
Legislature looks at new school taxes, ignores performance review
The Vermont Tax Structure Commission has delivered its report, and its recommendations should trigger an intense debate. Switching public education support to the income tax and expanding the sales tax to include services will be very controversial. It’s regrettable that the legislature didn’t begin with a performance review, to decide what state government should be doing with $4.5 billion a year, and then address the tax structure needed to pay for it.
More funding! More funding!
The Public Utility Commission, at the direction of the legislature, has “joined the chorus of voices seeking climate action”. Its all-fuels energy report takes note of the state’s ambitious carbon dioxide emission reduction goals, and almost screams what’s needed on every page: “More Funding!”
Retirement fund clock ticking towards calamity
The pension funds are just 66.4% and 52.3% funded, respectively. The clock is ticking toward calamity, including downgrading the state’s credit ratings.
Goodbye to TCI
Gov. Scott is not likely to put forth detailed objections to TCI. He’ll raise a few questions, point to pandemic uncertainty, and pay his customary homage to climate change orthodoxy. But he clearly sees that this is just one more elaborately concealed carbon tax. He knows what that will to do families and Covid- stressed businesses, he has opposed that for four years, and he won’t buy it. Good for him.
Today’s News: Tuesday, December 8, 2020
Levine unaware of any new cases at Irasburg church / state to text ‘close contacts’ / Legislature on the brink, Dem. Rep. says / VT to reduce rooms & meals tax as proposed in NH?
New Hampshire cutting taxes on Covid-hit businesses. Vermont?
According to stories in the New Hampshire media, Governor Chris Sununu (R) wants to cut their state rooms and meals tax, which now stands at 9%, the same as Vermont.
Government ‘feed the rich’ scams abound, new book reports
Not discussed are the huge – for Vermont – benefits shoveled out to the renewable industrial complex: feed in tariffs, standard offer, production tax credits, sales tax exemptions, bonus depreciation, free use of the highways by subsidized electric vehicles, and the Renewable Portfolio Standard that requires utilities to buy high-priced electricity from wind and solar producers.
Election law reforms worth considering
Only registered voters should be eligible to run for election to an office. No showboating 15 year olds, green card foreigners, or persons illegally in our country.
