To the Editor,

Washington wants to hand Ohioans a huge new tax bill and Reps. Zach Space and Betty Sutton want to help. “Cap-and-trade”, the core of the recent energy tax bill, would have an enormous negative impact on the state. Some studies show Ohio could lose more than 143,000 jobs, and thousands of dollars in disposable income. Despite those effects, Space and Sutton caved to Nancy Pelosi and twice voted against the interests of their constituents, first in committee in May and then to approve the bill on the House floor last week.

Cap-and-trade is a huge new tax in disguise – a tax on energy that will drive up the price of nearly everything in the country. President Obama told the San Francisco Chronicle last year: “Under my plan of a cap-and-trade system, electricity rates would necessarily skyrocket.”

The National Association of Manufacturers an analyzed a less aggressive Senate version last year and found Ohio stood to lose 143,037 jobs by 2030 while annual household disposable income would decline by an astonishing $6,819 during the same period. The Congressional Budget Office predicted increased electric costs per family nationally of $1,600 per year.

And what do we gain environmentally? Basically, nothing. Cap-and-trade failed to reduce emissions in Europe. Even if emissions targets were met, climate models show that the reductions would have no detectable impact on global average temperatures.

Reps. Space and Sutton were unable to stand up to politically correct special interests or their own party’s leadership to vote against this tax-hiking, jobs-killing scheme. What happens next in the Senate will depend largely on what Ohio Senators George Voinovich and Sherrod Brown decide to do. They need to recognize Space and Sutton’s error and, vote no.

Mr. Boyle is state director for the Ohio Chapter of Americans for Prosperity.