By Rob Roper
Chris Miller, who works on the Social Missions Committee at Ben & Jerry’s, testified to the House Energy and Technology Committee that his company is firmly in favor of the carbon tax bills (H.791/S.284) based on the ESSEX Plan.
Why might the company be for it? Because Ben & Jerry’s, which is owned by the British/Dutch company Unilever, will make out like bandits.
Miller shared estimates that the ice cream manufacturer would receive over $800,000 in electricity subsides if the ESSEX carbon tax were to become law. This he described as “obviously not insignificant.” True enough.
Rob Roper is the president of the Ethan Allen Institute.
The way the ESSEX carbon tax works is distributors of fossil fuels (gasoline, diesel, heating oil, propane, natural gas, etc.) would pay an excise tax (a cost that will be passed along to customers) into a fund that will be handed over to Vermont’s electricity providers to “reduce” electric rates. Ben & Jerry’s uses a lot of electricity and very little fossil fuels, so they will enjoy all the benefits of the subsidy but bear little burden of the tax. Great for them.
However, as Rep. Robert Forguites, D-Springfield, astutely pointed out, the ESSEX carbon tax does not actually lower the cost of electricity, it merely provides a subsidy that creates the illusion of lower costs — a subsidy that someone has to provide the money to cover.
What is really going on under the ESSEX carbon tax is that other Vermont businesses will be forced to pay $832,000 of Ben & Jerry’s electric bill. Who? Businesses that rely on fossil fuels, such as plumbers, electricians, contractors and other folks who depend on trucks and vans to reach their customers, general stores that heat with oil, and so on. This is an extremely regressive anti-small-business proposition.
Rep. Corey Parent, R-St. Albans, asked if Ben & Jerry’s would end up paying more in taxes through the delivery trucks they use for distribution. Miller pointed out that Ben & Jerry’s does not own its own trucks, they use a third party for distribution — so, no, they would not be paying any tax directly. Nor indirectly, as the companies they pay to move their ice cream around the country are, for the most part, not based in Vermont. Miller said he would be surprised if they would ever buy their fuel in the Green Mountain State. Who would, given an extra 40 cent per gallon carbon tax on diesel?
All this just goes to prove the old adage: A policy that robs Peter to pay Ben & Jerry’s can always count on the support of Ben & Jerry’s.
Rob Roper is president of the Ethan Allen Institute. Reprinted with permission from the Ethan Allen Institute Blog.
BJ’s is the last ice cream on earth I’d purchase,just like I won’t vote for their Communist buddy comrade Sanders,aka the Burnmeister.
Funny thing, around 1999, I worked a midnight maintenance temp job at their Springfield plant, where they made bulk ice cream, and also the Peace Pops.
They also made Haagen-Dazs ice cream bars on the line that made the Peace Pops.
Remember the ad campaign, “What’s the Dough Boy Afraid of” referring to Pillsbury, H-D’s owner, a competitor for retail shelf space with B&J’s.
So they manufactured their “competitor’s” product.
Public image vs. reality. Why welfare for this mega corporation? Because they can, and Vermonters continue to be bamboozled by these fuzzy hippies who really sold out, and are as greedy as can be.
Oh–Ben and Jerry’s—you mean that liberal high quality, high priced Ice Cream that the GREED DUO sold out to a multi national so they could dumb it down to just another ice crystal filled mediocre brand—THAT BEN AND JERRYS–‘what the hell do we owe them.
Hey, isn’t this bill Senator Chris Pearson’s pet project? Give him an email to express your delight with his favorite disaster for the working class rural Vermonters.
I wouldn’t buy Ben and Jerry’s ice cream on a bet. Way over priced. Kroger’s house premium brand taste great and inexpensive. Plus I don’t like all the liberal causes they give to.
What else would you expect from these Liberal clowns pushing these bills, tax the little guy so the big boys can benefit ……………….. shameful !!