New estimate about Cap and Trade's cost should alarm working Americans

CBS' "Taking Liberties" blog has an interesting post on a recently disclosed document from the Treasury Department highlighting the expected costs of Cap and Trade legislation on the U.S. economy. The report showed that cap and trade legislation supported by President Obama and congressional Democrats could cost the average American family $1,716 a year and represent the same as a 15 percent increase in the marginal tax rate.

From the blog:

"The FOIA'd document written by Judson Jaffe, who joined the Treasury Department's Office of Environment and Energy in January 2009, says: "Given the administration's proposal to auction all emission allowances, a cap-and-trade program could generate federal receipts on the order of $100 to $200 billion annually." (Obviously, any final cap-and-trade system may be different from what Obama had proposed, and could yield higher or lower taxes.)

Because personal income tax revenues bring in around $1.37 trillion a year, a $200 billion additional tax would be the equivalent of a 15 percent increase a year. A $100 billion additional tax would represent a 7 or 8 percent increase a year.

One odd point: The document written by Jaffee includes this line: "It will raise energy prices and impose annual costs on the order of XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX." The Treasury Department redacted the rest of the sentence with a thick black line."