By Guy Page
Bills in the Vermont House and Senate would tax every retail delivery (think Fed Ex, Amazon etc.) and spend the proceeds on e-bikes and other climate initiatives.
Often referred to by the short title Curt’s Act – named after former legislator and climate hawk House Bill 426 and Senate Bill 75 are officially titled as an act relating to transportation initiatives to improve “equity” and infrastructure.
“These bills expose them at their worst here in Vermont,” J.T. Dodge of Newbury, a former Caledonia County senate candidate and longtime critic of Vermont’s climate change spending and policies, said on a social media post last week.
Dodge is scheduled to be a guest on Vermont Daily Chronicle’s Hot Off The Press on WDEV Monday at 11:45 AM.
These bills were primarily sponsored in the House by Representatives Mollie Burke, Kate Lalley, Phil Pouech, and Chloe Tomlinson, and in the Senate by Senators Rebecca White, Alison Clarkson, Martine Gulick, Joseph Major, and Anne Watson. All are Democrats.
The core of this legislation is the creation of a 30 cent fee on every retail delivery of tangible goods to a Vermont address. The revenue is intended to fund electric vehicle rebates, e-bike incentives, and public transit systems as the state looks for ways to replace declining gas tax revenue.
While the goal is framed as progress, the actual impact falls heavily on those living in the more remote parts of our state, Dodge said.
Supporters of the bill read like a who’s who in renewable power industry advocates:
Paul Burns: As the Executive Director of the Vermont Public Interest Research Group (VPIRG), Paul Burns has been a prominent figure in Montpelier for over two decades. His organization is a major driver behind the “Make Big Oil Pay” campaign and the push for the Retail Delivery Fee as a way to fund new transit initiatives.
Johanna Miller: Serving as the Energy and Climate Program Director for the Vermont Natural Resources Council (VNRC), Johanna Miller is a central coordinator for the Environmental Common Agenda. She frequently testifies in favor of bold climate policies and was a key appointee to the Vermont Climate Council.
Jared Duval: The Executive Director of the Energy Action Network (EAN), Jared Duval, provides much of the data used by legislators to justify carbon limits. He serves on the Climate Council and is often the primary source for reports on how Vermont can meet its emissions reduction goals.
Representative Chloe Tomlinson: Beyond being a sponsor of Curt’s Act, Representative Tomlinson is a rising leader in the Climate Solutions Caucus. She has been publicly recognized by advocacy groups for her work in tying transportation infrastructure directly to emissions reduction targets.
Elena Mihaly: As the Vice President for the Conservation Law Foundation (CLF) in Vermont, Elena Mihaly advocates for a cleaner energy future while balancing the conversation around affordability. Her group often uses legal frameworks to ensure the state meets its mandated carbon limits.
Dodge claims many lawmakers backing Curt’s Bills are now voting for both sides of a difficult dichotomy. They are the same voices pushing mandates to limit personal driving to meet climate goals, yet they are also lead sponsoring the tax on the delivery services that rural residents use to avoid driving those extra miles.
“It creates a situation where the very people telling us to drive less are also making it more expensive to have things brought to our doors,” Dodge said.
The proposed Retail Delivery Fee is being framed as a way to make large corporations pay for road wear, but in practice, it functions as a targeted tax on rural life, Dodge claims.
The rural penalty
For those in rural towns like Newbury, Island Pond, Barton and many others, online ordering is often a necessity, not a luxury. By taxing every delivery, the state is effectively placing a geographic surcharge on residents who do not have the luxury of living near a Target or a grocery hub.
“It feels like a penalty for simply choosing to live in the quiet parts of the state we love,” Dodge said.
The efficiency irony
Legislators often push for carbon reduction, yet they are taxing the most carbon-efficient method of moving goods. One delivery van replacing twenty individual cars driving 30 miles to a store reduces emissions. Taxing that efficiency is a direct contradiction of the state’s stated climate goals. This exposes the disingenuous ideological mandate mentality they have. It shows a lack of empathy for the common sense of the working person.
Regressive impact
Analysis from fiscal watchdogs shows these fees are regressive. They disproportionately hit the elderly, the mobility-challenged, and low-income families who rely on home delivery for essentials.
Double taxation
“These are the very neighbors we should be protecting, not viewing as a revenue source,” Dodge said.
Delivery vehicles already pay for road use through the gas tax and registration fees. Adding a per-transaction fee is a form of double taxation on the same trip, intended solely to plug budget holes created by other government spending. It is an exhausting cycle where the answer to every problem is to reach deeper into the citizen’s pocket.
“In my opinion, we need to think about and move on the repeal of the Vermont Global Warming Solutions Act. This is what gives all these ridiculous ideas feet,” Dodge said.
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Categories: Taxes
By taxing Fed EX and UPS, they mean taxing Vermonters because that extra cost will be tacked on to every order we place.
I also don’t remember voting for funding e-bikes.
The e-bike part of it really got to me!!
They Commiecrats don’t get that do they? Always screaming about affordability, their new catch phrase of the day. Every time they tax businesses the businesses pass the tax on to us. Affordability my A$$.
“The power to tax is the power to destroy”. – John Marshall
Again, legislation to harm rural areas with funding for more urban areas. Disgusting. The answer is NO!
Fund your own frigging E-bikes. I don’t see anyone funding my rototiller or my snowblower. I do have a better idea, but profanity is not allowed!
Does our better idea have anything to do with a place where the “sun don’t shine” That would be m suggestion !
Didn’t Clarkson in a VDC article say she’s concered about the high rate of taxes.
I guess she’s not that concerned .
Another new tax ! What the fudge is wrong with these people ? I just hope that I am around to witness karma visiting these D-bags !
Better take a look and see what the new VA governor just put up for new taxes!! It’s starting to look like VT idiot state representatives are driving the communist train!!
Their ultimate agenda is to drive people from rural living to urban vertical living models. They use disincentives like this to “change the culture”. We will see more of this adding up and multiplying the consequence for daring to maintain independent property rights and land ownership.
You said it, Jeffrey. The people responsible for this in the above article are minions of their Globalist, WEF, UN overlords.
Exactly!
Do you remember the utopian vision of New Vista – everyone lives in a little apartment surrounded by community gardens they all tend? https://www.vermontpublic.org/programs/2018-07-06/4-vermont-towns-vs-1-utah-developer-what-happened-with-newvistas No one needs vehicles, they all walk to work and their world is their community. Sounds like a communist (Democrat) utopian world view to me. Getting rid of cars and replacing them with e-bikes would fit the net zero goals just fine.
Just stop paying all our taxes to the illegals and turn over the information to the Feds to stop the fraud!
Funding that can burst into flames while charging is always a great idea. But not as great as five unusable busses or Bernie’s orgasmatron.
The Vermont countryside is going to fund e-bikes for Burlington summer use through taxation? Is that the plan?
We are funding summer fun activities for the elite with needed day to day deliveries in rural Vermont?
It is absolutely terrifying when they are in session. They certainly are paying very close attention to their puppet masters via United Nations Agenda 2030.
And we still won’t have enough money to pay for people freezing to death, because we spent 9 billion, plus how many million on this stupid bill before we run out of money yet again….along with our double digit forecast property tax increase.
They are drunk with power and consumption over citizens and their money.
and they still can’t figure out how to charge users of EV CHARGING stations a mere percentage to go to road taxes, you really can’t fix stupid!
I actually witnessed yesterday one of my local state reps at the Lamoille legislative breakfast tell the audience that he would impose a special tax on those making over $500K. This kind of thinking, as well as all the ideologies, programs, and pie in the sky plans mentioned in this article, betray that these politicians are all reading from the same Marxist socialist Communist playbook. It’s lunacy and the antithesis of common sense and liberty.
Just a bunch of money grubbers. I think all the lefties would love it if anyone even remotely conservative would move out of VT.
First of all we need to remember their is no logic, common sense or facts the Dems/Libs rely on. They try to create law on how they feel, what their sponsors tell them and is their is specious reasoning they can use to fool the just as press and constituents. Second of all the more electric bikes they push to more environmentally hazardous batteries that need to be made helping their allies China, and Canada’s GMP. Beside people should be peddling to keep fit and reduce our Medial cost. What are they going to do about the United States Post Office that delivers mail and packages to almost every home 5 days a week? Tax the mean ole Post Office too?