What a Surprise: Cap and Trade Is a Tax on the Middle Class

A tax on everyone really. Obama Admin: Cap And Trade Could Cost Families $1,761 A Year - Taking Liberties - CBS News

The Obama administration has privately concluded that a cap and trade law would cost American taxpayers up to $200 billion a year, the equivalent of hiking personal income taxes by about 15 percent.

A previously unreleased analysis prepared by the U.S. Department of Treasury says the total in new taxes would be between $100 billion to $200 billion a year. At the upper end of the administration's estimate, the cost per American household would be an extra $1,761 a year.

A second memorandum, which was prepared for Obama's transition team after the November election, says this about climate change policies: "Economic costs will likely be on the order of 1 percent of GDP, making them equal in scale to all existing environmental regulation."

You have to love the Freedom of Information Act. That's how these documents (they are in a PDF) became available.