In hindsight, perhaps the failed effort to take your gas stove and the feigned concern over high gas prices were just distractions from Joe Biden’s latest tax increase.
For over a week, we’ve been on a steady diet of crocodile tears courtesy of the White House and certain members of Congress. Two years into Biden’s presidency, they suddenly care about prices at the pump. Sure, they need you to forget how they sat quietly as a gallon of gas topped five dollars, but they are also counting on the art of distraction for another inconvenient truth: they quietly passed a new tax to raise the cost of heating your home.
They couldn’t get your gas stove, so they’re hiking your gas bill.
Tucked deep within the laughably named “Inflation Reduction Act” is what the Biden administration proudly calls a “methane fee.” They decided on this name because if they called it what it really is — a tax on your utility bills — then their precious eco-tax might have gone up in smoke. They’ll call it a fee, but the Congressional Budget Office calls it a tax. It is a tax that will impact your home heating, and in some cases electric bills.
The tax applies to the emission of a gas that is part of the process of developing the natural gas, which heats nearly half of American homes. And sticking with the Biden Administration’s “America Last” energy policy, the majority of the tax will hit domestic producers and American families starting in 2024.
This is the first time the federal government is placing a tax on energy production emissions, and it will be a financial boon to Washington. According to one analysis, the natural gas tax will generate between $1-2 billion in revenue every year. Billions more for D.C., because Joe Biden feels now is the best time to raise taxes, no matter how much it hurts your family budget. Make no mistake — America’s family budgets are hurting.
Anyone trying to make the numbers work doesn’t need a government report about how tough it is right now, but there are plenty. According to the Census Bureau, more than 1 in 5 families could not pay their energy bills over the last year, and the number is on the rise. Another report found that 34 percent of American households were giving up basic needs, such as food and medicine, to pay their energy bills, and that was before winter hit. The cost burden of energy on working families is in some cases second only to their mortgages.
It shouldn’t be lost on anyone that Joe Biden and the eco-left are passing taxes on working families while proudly throwing subsidy after subsidy at the rich in the form of electric vehicle and home solar credits.
Joe Biden, and every member of Congress who supported the Inflation Reduction Act, voted to make the cost of home heating even worse. Thankfully, a new Congress means a new chance to save working families from this looming financial burden.
Texas Congressman August Pfluger has introduced a bill to repeal the natural gas tax to stop this insanity before it begins. Noting Biden’s new tax will hit low-income families the hardest, the bill should pass quickly. No doubt, Joe Biden’s veto pen would await the bill, however families deserve to know who really stands for them, and who really stands for the eco-tax.
From day one in office, Biden has attacked American energy production and the last two years of disaster are the result. Record gas prices have delivered once in a generation inflation that is so high that you might need a second mortgage just to go to the grocery store. Now, unless it’s repealed, Biden will add a tax on the cost of keeping your house warm.
Without a doubt, President Biden and his climate cult will again fake cry about the cost they’ve imposed on our families. However, we’re all learning that cheap distractions can be very costly.
Larry Behrens is the Communications Director for Power The Future, a non-profit that advocates for America’s energy workers. You can find him on Twitter @larrybehrens or you can email him: larry@powerthefuture.com.
The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of the Daily Caller.