This fall, the voters of this state are facing some tough questions.
Three initiatives are on the ballot. One kills the cap-and-trade tax added to the state gasoline tax, which has made gasoline in this state among the costliest in the country. Another kills the state’s long-term care act. And another would kill the Climate Commitment Act.
The legality of the cap-and-trade tax is highly questionable and will eventually be decided in the courts if it isn’t killed by this initiative. This tax is going into the general fund, not earmarked for anything. So, it’s just a tax windfall that the lawmakers can’t decide how to spend the $1.3 billion generated as of last September. Really?
Of course, the Climate Commitment Act kills gasoline cars in this state by 2030, so if you own a gasoline-powered car in five years, it will be worthless and you will be forced to buy an electric vehicle (EV) or walk. EVs cost roughly twice a gas-powered vehicle, so your car payment will go to over $1,000 per month plus the higher cost of insurance (if you can get insurance for it), plus the increased electric bill, plus the $4,000 or more it will cost to install the charger in your garage. And then we’ll be looking at power shortages due to the greatly increased load on our already shaky power grid.
Currently, it appears that it will actually cost more in electricity than the comparable gasoline. And the carbon footprint will not decrease because of the higher carbon usage of EVs. The greater weight means tires won’t last nearly as long, plus the added wear on brakes and suspensions. Then there’s the replacement cost of the batteries. A Tesla battery replacement costs roughly $20,000 and has to be done somewhere between 60,000 and 100,000 miles. This doesn’t include the extensive environmental damage done by the mining of the rare minerals needed for the batteries.
Then the question of the long-term care act. Several hundred thousand people opted out of it before the state told the rest that they’re stuck with it and can’t get out. And is it really long-term care? Do we really want government running our long-term care?
This state has been run by the Democrats for several decades now. Are we better off than we were before? Are we happy with the programs they have shoved down our throats? Sex education for grade schoolers? EV mandates? Loss of parental authority? Health care initiatives such as Obamacare that have actually greatly increased the cost of our health care? The current proposal to raise the 1% limit increase of property taxes to 3%? The continued refusal to return budget surpluses to the voters? The completely unconstitutional limits placed on guns proposed by our governor and fully supported by our attorney who should have known better? This fall, we have to ask ourselves one question before we vote. Do we really want to continue to let the Democrats control our lives?
Bruce Peterson
Centralia
