TCI Regional Policy Design Stakeholder Submissions

Hi,

I am a resident of Vermont and I am opposed to the creation of the TCI. I attended a meeting, one of several held around the state, where we were told that this regional compact was based on another successful regional compact, the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI). We were lead to believe that RGGI was successful in it's mission and that TCI would be as well by building off these successes. In fact, RGGI has failed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions but instead has created a tax that emitters pay to emit greenhouse gases. Like most corporate taxes these days the tax ends up being pushed onto consumers, while the benefit of the tax is to support home upgrades to reduce energy usage for heating and cooling, the end result is a failure of it's promoted mission. From the presentation given, it was clear that TCI would do a similar thing by taxing those who import gasoline and diesel into the participating states which would then cause the price at the pump to increase. So the tax on the importers would be passed directly onto consumers. While the mission of TCI is commendable, to reduce the impacts of climate change in the transportation sector and to use the funds raised by the tax to support battery powered and other vehicle purchases by consumers to lower the amount of emissions from the transportation sector. This is an important goal to have and to realize. I am not convinced that creating a bureaucracy to increase taxes which may or not be successful in it's goals is the best solution. Are there alternatives to this approach that can have the same effects? A direct tax at the pumps that is designated for the support of transitioning our vehicle choices away from low mpg and high emissions ones? I am asking for a better and more well-thought out solution or an honest approach to the citizens of those states attempting to join this compact. This is a tax that will be directed onto consumers. Can we accomplish the same things with a direct tax on gasoline and diesel that is set aside in a fund to support this work? The gasoline and diesel market in our state is already a mess with prices much higher in the Chittenden County area even after the main owners of gas stations were sued by the state for price-fixing. Can we trust these people to not price fix when they are passing on a tax to us? A region-wide tax at the pump that is protected for its desired use is a much better way to accomplish our goals and doesn't try and pass off the plan as not a tax when it clearly is a direct tax to anyone who drives a vehicle.

Please oppose TCI until the plan is modified to be truthful to consumers and nullifies any possibility that the monopolies that already cheat consumers to do so in the name of minimizing the impacts of climate change. We must shift our transportation sector away from the use of fossil fuels which will not last forever and have negative impacts on our environment, TCI as it was laid out to the public is not the best way to do this.