Blankenship: Lots of higher taxes ahead

Brace yourself. We’re fixing to get clobbered with higher taxes on lots of things. Why? Lots of reasons. Two stand out.

First, the recession is producing much less revenue for the federal government. The economic slump dropped the take by 34 percent in April from a year ago, officials say.

Second, the globe is getting cooler. So taxes will rise? Yes, as I will explain in a minute.

Further, we home owners in Stafford surely will face higher real estate taxes, since they have remained about steady this year, while the county’s costs have continued upward. My own tax bill is nearly identical to last year’s. But even if my property’s reassessment next year (as required) shows no rise, I expect the supervisors will have to raise the rates to match the county’s expenditures.

Now as promised, here’s why taxes, especially on energy, will rise even as the globe cools. It’s because Congress is rushing to get its huge new carbon tax law passed before everyone notices it’s getting cooler, and before most of us realize that cutting CO2 will do nothing to control the weather.

But why the hurry in Congress? They must strike while the iron is still hot. Otherwise, another cooling year passes and more folks realize that we’re not to blame for climate change.

Why we’re not? Here’s a Jim-dandy reason: the sun.

According to Dr. Willie Soon, an astrophysicist at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, "...there are very few sunspots." Their appearance runs in 11-year cycles...“[t]his is the quietest (fewest sunspots) we have had in almost a century." That means a cooler planet.

Another reason we’re in for a cool spell, claims geologist Don Easterbrook: “Cool water in the Pacific extends from the equator all the way up the west coast of North America into the Gulf of Alaska [and it] isn’t going to change...the earth is in for global cooling for the next 2-3 decades...”

So no wonder Congress is going hell for leather to get the energy tax law passed. All sorts of deals are being made to keep constituent groups on board.

One that makes you want to throw up is the ethanol lobby. First they tried to get the government to mandate an increase in ethanol content from 10 to 15 percent in gasoline mixtures, even though gas burns better. And after getting imported ethanol banned, they are fighting to be exempted from EPA standards that label corn ethanol a major carbon emitter. They threaten to kill the whole energy tax bill unless EPA is forced to back down.

Great. And let’s support Obama’s energy adviser who wants all the world’s roofs to be painted white to slow global warming — except in North Dakota?

Of course, I’ll contribute soon enough by resting in a cold, cold grave, and not in any global-warming hell, praise be.

Ben Blankenship is an Aquia Harbour resident and career journalist. Reach him at info@staffordcountysun.com