This hidden tax, called an “energy bill”,  will raise utility bills for the average family by $1,300 per year (90% increase) by some estimates, while others say it will be more in the range of an extra $3,000 per year according to  Heritage article ”The Economic Impact of the Waxman-Markey Cap and Trade Bill” by Ben Lieberman, Senior Policy Analyst, Energy and Environment, Thomas A. Roe Institute for Economic Policy Studies:   Testimony before the Senate Republication Conference June 22, 2009:  “….the bottom line is that cap and trade works by raising the cost of energy high enough so that individuals and businesses are forced to use less of it… the costs will get passed on to us……

“But direct energy costs are only part of the consumer impact. Nearly everything goes up, since higher energy costs raise production costs…. jobs will be destroyed entirely, while others will be outsourced to nations like China and India that have repeatedly stated that they’ll never hamper their own economic growth with energy-cost boosting global warming measures like this bill…

“Since farming is energy intensive, that sector will be particularly hard-hit.  Higher gasoline and diesel fuel costs, higher electricity costs, and higher natural gas-derived fertilizer costs…

“In other words, the nation will be $9.4 trillion poorer with Cap & Trade than without it…..

“It should also be noted that the costs are not distributed evenly. Low-income households spend a disproportionate share of their incomes on energy, and thus would be hit harder….

“Waxman-Markey also disproportionately burdens states in the Midwest and South, that still have a substantial number of manufacturing jobs to lose, as well as those that rely more heavily than others on coal for electric generation. In addition, because the bill raises energy costs, it hurts rural America much more than urban America….. In conclusion, it’s not surprising that support for Waxman-Markey is heaviest in those parts of the country, the urban centers in the West Coast and Northeast, that are least harmed by it. Even there, the economic damage would be bad enough, but the citizens in the rest of the country and their representatives should really be asking many tough questions about the economic impact of cap and trade.”