Manchin bill will raise the price of energy, manufacturing through taxation

 Washington Examiner:

Sen. Joe Manchin’s (D-WV) "Inflation Reduction Act" may not lower inflation , but it is a much better name for the bill than what the legislation actually does: raise taxes on energy producers and manufacturers. A more accurate name for the bill would have been "The Joe Manchin Tax on Energy and Manufacturing."

Manchin claims his legislation doesn’t raise taxes on energy producers or manufacturers at all. In fact, Manchin went so far as to claim, "There’s nothing on taxes at all" in the bill. "There’s not one penny in change on taxes," Manchin told reporters Monday.

This is an odd claim to make, considering the Joint Committee on Taxation says the bill’s 15% Alternative Minimum Tax on Large Corporations will raise taxes by $314 billion over the next 10 years. What is the point of creating a minimum tax if it isn’t going to raise revenue? $314 billion is an awful lot of pennies.

Worse for Manchin, and for everyone if this legislation should become law, is which industries are hit hardest by the Manchin tax hike. According to the JCT, the manufacturing industry is hit the hardest , absorbing 49.7% of all new revenue raised by the minimum tax provision. West Virginia’s coal sector is also hit hard by the Manchin tax hike, with the Tax Foundation estimating that coal industry taxes will go up 7.2%. Utilities are also hit by an average 4.4% tax hike under the Manchin plan. Consumers will know exactly whom to blame when their energy prices go up.

Clearly sensitive to the charge that his tax hike will hurt manufacturing and energy production, Manchin is touting a separate piece of legislation he says Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) have promised to pass after the Senate passes the Manchin tax hike.

This "permitting reform bill" is good legislation. It reforms the National Environmental Policy Act so that major projects like oil pipelines can only be held up by environmental activists for a maximum of two years in court. It also codifies reforms made by former President Donald Trump that make it easier for infrastructure projects to comply with the Clean Water Act. And it makes it easier for utility companies to build new power lines by consolidating permit-issuing authority under the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

These are all good, commonsense reforms that should become law. But the Democrats control the House of Representatives, and there is zero chance they will pass legislation that makes it easier to build fossil fuel infrastructure, especially reforms first enacted by President Trump. Manchin is a fool if he thinks the House will pass this bill or that the Democratic-controlled Senate will find time in its busy schedule to act on it.
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It is a bill that deserves to be defeated.  It is typical Democrat greed.