The National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) and the Northeast PA Manufacturers & Employers Association recently released a study conducted by NERA Economic Consulting that shows a carbon tax would have a devastating impact on manufacturing in PA. The report, titled Economic Outcomes of a U.S. Carbon Tax, found that levying such a tax would result in higher prices for natural gas, electricity, gasoline and other energy commodities. Manufacturing output in energy-intensive sectors could drop by as much as 15.0 percent and in non-energy-intensive sectors by as much as 7.7 percent.
"As talk has continued in Washington about a carbon tax, the results of this study are very troubling as Pennsylvanians would see their energy bills go up across the board," said MAEA President Darlene J. Robbins. "Businesses throughout PA would be dealt a costly blow. We are facing an unemployment rate of 8 percent in the state, and a carbon tax will only cause us more economic harm."
Key findings for Pennsylvania include the following:
• This tax would deal a blow to employment in PA with a loss of worker income
equivalent to 77,000 to 81,000 jobs in 2013 and 96,000 to 122,000 by 2023.
• The cost of using natural gas would increase by more than 40 percent in 2013,
the first year of the carbon tax study, adding to household energy bills and
increasing operation costs for many PA businesses.
• Gas prices at the pump would jump by more than 20 cents a gallon in 2013.
• Households in PA would see a significant increase in their electricity rates, with an average increase of 13 percent in 2013.
• By 2023, the hardest hit economic sectors in PA would be coal, which would lose between 48 and 50 percent in economic output, energy-intensive manufacturing, which would lose 1.9 percent and non-energy-intensive manufacturing, which would lose between 0.5 and 0.9 percent.
"The notion that some policymakers have in Washington that an economy-wide tax of this nature is a good idea is flatly wrong," said NAM President and CEO Jay Timmons. "Our nation's economy and family budgets can't take it. As consumers of one-third of our nation's energy supply, manufacturers and our employees will struggle with higher energy prices. A carbon tax will severely harm our ability to compete with other nations."
The study examines two carbon tax scenarios: one levied at $20 per ton increasing at 4 percent and the other designed to reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions by 80 percent. Both cases would have a negative impact on the economy. Click Here for the executive summary and full report and for information on how PA will be impacted.
The National Association of Manufacturers is the largest manufacturing association in the United States, representing manufacturers in every industrial sector and
in all 50 states. Manufacturing has a presence in every single congressional district providing good, high-paying jobs. For more information about the Manufacturers or to follow us on Shopfloor, Twitter and Facebook, please visit www.nam.org.
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