For those that don’t operate a business in California like I do, I was surprised today to learn that Sacramento State College of Business Administration and Center for Small Business have complete a study of the AB32 Greenhouse gas law, and its impact on California small businesses.
The law requires that by 2020 the state’s greenhouse gas emissions be reduced to 1990 levels, a roughly 25% reduction under business as usual estimates. The California Air Resources Board, under the California Environmental Protection Agency, is to prepare plans to achieve the objectives stated in the Act.
Will I keep my business in California with a tab like that? Probably not. It would be economic suicide for me. – Anthony
California Small Businesses Face $50,000 Cost from State Implementation of AB 32
from PR-inside.com
A new study released today found that small businesses in California will pay an additional $49,691 as a result of the California Air Resources Board’s implementation of AB 32. Citing severe economic impacts, a coalition of small business organizations called today for the suspension of the regulatory proceedings to implement California’s greenhouse gas program until the report’s findings are analyzed
and mitigation measures are added to the state plan.
The report concluded that when the program is fully implemented, the average annual loss in gross state output from small businesses alone would be $182.6 billion, approximately a 10% loss in total gross state output. This will translate into nearly 1.1 million lost jobs in California. Lost labor income is estimated to be $76.8 billion, with nearly $5.8 billion lost in indirect taxes.
“We support the state’s efforts to curb greenhouse gas emissions, but we are very concerned that these costs will apply disproportionally to California small business. Consumers will be hurt and the environmental goals will not be achieved,” said Esteban Soriano, Chairman of the California Small Business Association and a founding member of the California Small Business Roundtable.
The analysis of the state Scoping Plan was led by Sanjay Varshney, Dean of the College of Business Administration, California State University, Sacramento and Dennis H. Tootelian, Ph.D., Professor of Marketing and Director, Center for Small Business, California State University, Sacramento. The study reveals that when the plan is fully implemented, California families will be facing increased annual costs of $3,857.
Varshney explained that the study’s cost analysis was based on the California Air Resources Board’s own findings, which revealed significant cost increases. The study’s findings are consistent with the Peer Review analysis that CARB commissioned, which also concluded that the cost of the AB 32 Scoping Plan would be significant, and that CARB had significantly underestimated these costs.
“Given California’s current economic plight, the state must refrain from imposing new fees on taxpayers to pay for an expanded bureaucracy,” said Michael Shaw of the National Federation of Independent Business. “When Assembly Bill 32 authorized this program in 2006, CARB promised to develop a greenhouse gas plan that would provide benefits to small business, not bankruptcy.”
The study also found that in order to cope with the increased costs generated by the AB 32 program, consumers will be forced to cut their discretionary spending by 26.2%.
“Californians will be getting less and paying more. How can the small business community survive in a political climate so determined to put us out of business,?” asked Griselda Barajas, owner of Tex Mex Restaurant in downtown Sacramento, where the study was released.
“Many lawmakers who enjoy our tacos will see a significant increase in their daily lunch bills if these problems are not addressed,” said Barajas. “All of the Capitol community folks who dine at Tex Mex will have to bear the burden of an unfunded mandate placed against my business.”
According to the authors, the study utilized IMPLAN, a widely used economic modeling program that has more than 1,500 active users in the United States and internationally. These include clients in federal and state government, universities, and private sector consultants. Joining the California Small Business Roundtable and the National Federation of Independent Business at Monday’s event were the California Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and the Sacramento Black Chamber of Commerce.
For a copy of the study, please contact Alison MacLeod at 916-225-6317 or amacleod@ka-pow.com : mailto:amacleod@ka-pow.com .
For California Small Business AssociationAlison MacLeod,
Steve in SC wrote:
The long and short of it there are three choices.
1. Vote the bastards out.
2. Move
3. Armed insurrection.
**************
I already did No. 2 after figuring out staying in CA was a losing battle with the culls (logging term) we kept voting in to office. So took my CALPERS and ran. (The only good thing Clinton ever did was to sign the Income Source law that stopped CA from coming after people and taxing their retirement even though they no longer lived in the state.)
Now as for No. 3 that sounds like the next big thing, especially if Cap and Tax passes nationwide. After the second civil war, I figure there will be areas of the former US in constant insurrection and we’ll probably be down to the 35 States.
Accumulating gold, can goods, and lots of ammo.
The long and short of it there are three choices.
1. Vote the bastards out.
2. Move
3. Armed insurrection.
4. Refuse to pay the tax.
How many state officials and police does California have? I bet the business community outnumbers them. How many court hearings can they schedule? Flood the court system and watch the whole charade fall on it’s butt.
This is what we did in UK to defeat the Poll Tax. It worked.
Organise. Set up communication through local meetings and statewide encrypted email. The authorities dislike Gnu Privacy Guard for a reason. They can’t intercept and identify ‘ringleaders’.
Plan. Find out the capacity of the court system and Jails.
Mutual support. Help those brave enough to be in the front line come the time the state starts prosecuting. United, you will not be defeated.
Publicize. Make sure the public knows what you are doing and why. Make sure they know how much the cost of goods and services will increase due to the tax.
With public opinion behind you, you will win.
It’s been said in the past that today’s fads in California will be the future fads for the rest of the country. This CO2 fad may finally end that streak when the rest of the country sees California bleeding.
My neighbors will hate me for this, but…
Western Oregon has mild winters and beautiful summers, if you can stand the constant drizzle. Housing is half the price of CA. There are no jobs — we have the highest unemployment in the country — and a one party government, the Idiot Party, but otherwise it’s the nicest place to live in the US of A. We have no sales tax. None. If the price tag on the item says $9.98, that’s what you pay at the cash register. Our school system is worthless, including higher ed, which is lower than most, but our home schooled kids score tops in the country. The pace of life is slower, the culture mediocre, and people are generally very nice. Small businesses here are really small, and barely make the rent, and the bankruptcy rate is sky high, but people get by somehow.
I grew up in CA and moved to OR when I was 21, more than 35 years ago. I have never regretted it for one minute. I shudder involuntarily whenever I visit CA. My body hates it there. Oregon has many faults and drawbacks, but it is 1,000 percent better.
Not that I’m holding out a welcome mat. Please don’t Californicate Oregon. But frankly, we could use your money, if you wanted to sell out there and invest here. And we could use some more folks that weren’t kneejerk members of the Idiot Party, IMHO.
Do me a favor, though. Don’t tell anyone I said any of the things I just said.
Allan,
” Reportedly there are companies [in EU] that now have CO2 credits worth more than the entire remainder of the corporation”
This is another amazing thing about the timing of cap&trade. These credits are a weird new form of financial derivative that few people understand. They have no tangible backing but exchange for real money. If there is a sudden increase in efficiency somewhere in a high emissions part the economy (say, a new invention) there would suddenly be more carbon credits than anyone would want. There is no reason to hold a credit in excess of what you need for immediate production, so the immediate effect would be to move the market price to nearly zero (low enough and speculators will pick them up to sell into a future recovery; but this relies on the government not issuing more). The company with credits at 50% of total equity will see it’s value halve, which might not seem to matter if they got them for free. But if they are like the companies I know (listed on the ASX) they will have debt levels close to the maximum that banks allow (because debt is cheaper than equity) so the loss of value in CO2 credits will result in breaches in loan covenants and the banks will start asking for their money back. They can sell their credits but the whole cause of the problem is the collapse of the credit market so they will get next to nothing for them. But they will do it anyway because there is no point selling anything else while they already have surplus credits. So the credit market falls even more. Now this kind of thing happens already (eg it’s underway right now in commercial real estate) but it would be much worse with CO2 credits because they have no intrinsic value, unlike office buildings. Waiting at the bottom of the market are the investment banks and broking firms. With global warming they get their profits during the next hot summer, with global cooling the next cold winter. In fact, with global operations and global credits (the IPCC would willingly administer this for just an 0.5% transaction fee) this could be a constant torrent of gold.
tallbloke (23:23:39) Quote: “This is what we did in UK to defeat the Poll Tax. It worked.”
Yes it did, and it also worked well in helping India get independance before that. In our current style of Western Shamocracy (or Republic come to that), civil disobedience is the way to go.
What’s also happening in the UK is a thriving ‘black economy’. If you know where to go it’s easy to obtain heavily taxed items like alcohol, tobacco and even diesel. at much lower prices than from legitimate sources. If you need a tradesman it’s easy to find good willing do the work much cheaper than, providing you pay with cash.
I’m sure the same can apply in CA – just cut up your credit cards and remember ‘cash is king’.
Allan M R MacRae (21:02:20) : Wherever I go must have adequate water – this leaves out much of Nevada, doesn’t it?
Um, no. Nevada has lots of adequate water, just not as rainfall in the central plain. It comes from the mountains near Carson City and Reno has a river through it. Down near Las Vegas / Henderson, it has Lake Mead to deliver the Colorado River water (shared with Arizona, so they have a growing corner too). My favorite spot was Laughlin (that has a coal slurry pipeline from the mine to the powerplant, so power is assured) and river water running through town. If you want, you can choose to live on the Arizona side of the river. Both are growing.
http://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=laughlin+nevada&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8
Close behind it is the strip from Reno / Sparks down through Carson City and ending near Smith, Nevada (guess why 😉 that also has river water from the Sierra Nevada. If you like city life, Reno, if you like farms and country, Smith, if you like mixed middle America with light industry, Sparks. Government work and “office industry”, Carson City. And a secluded retirement / leisure lifestyle (or work in same) Laughlin. Of course, if you are up to your eyeballs in money and like the ultimate, life on the Nevada Shore of Lake Tahoe is hard to beat…
Las Vegas is the big entertainment center, and Henderson is the retirement / bedroom extension. Over the hill at the foot of the Boulder Dam is Boulder City. Devoted to boating and rural recreation. A bit straight laced for my tastes, but if you want Nevada without the casinos, bars, exotic dancers, brothels, etc. it was a dry town for quite a while and still proud of it’s heritage as a clean cut place.
FWIW, I have 2 siblings living in Nevada now. It’s in my “top 4”. Also on the list are Texas (Hill country, Austin, maybe Dallas) and Tennessee in this wonderful valley from Oak Ridge down to near Georgia. And Florida just north of Orlando (minimum hurricane risk, short drive to either coast, big city nearby, semi-rural lifestyle, Disney World…)
States with no income tax include Wyoming, Alaska, Texas, Nevada, Washington, South Dakota and Florida. New Hampshire and Tennessee tax interest and dividends only.
I also liked Washington a lot, but my spouse doesn’t like cold… and isn’t all that fond of cool and rain either.
We’ve put a few years into looking, and those places made the short list…
So watts left – New Mexico? Parts of Nevada? Has to be warm in winter,
Well, warm implies that southern Nevada would be OK, but South Texas or Florida would be great. If you don’t like humidity, stick with Laughlin / Las Vegas / Boulder. If you like humidity, go with Florida. 50 / 50, Texas. The Tennessee valley gives a nice warm-ish 4 seasons, protected somewhat from hurricanes and tornadoes by hills on each side. Same hills tend to mostly keep out the very cold Canada Express air flows.
Polite suggestions please.
Does “take me with you” qualify as a polite suggestion ? 😉
There was a joke during socialism: students in Armenian University ask their professor:
“Mr Professor, is it possible once to built a communism in Armenia?”
“Well, yes, but .. why not to try it in Azerbaijan first?”
(Armenians and Azerbaijanis were definitely not in love)
Or as somebody other told – “the best cure against socialism is to implement it for some time.”
Carl Yee (22:35:08) : Accumulating gold, can goods, and lots of ammo.
You left out “dry goods” and a Diesel vehicle (can run on salad oil, jet fuel and other interesting things if needed 😉 and yes, I’ve done it. Pre- 1986 era with Bosch fuel injection pumps are most forgiving of strange fuels…)
chiefio.wordpress.com/2009/04/06/food-storage-systems/
chiefio.wordpress.com/2009/05/27/crisis-kits-and-preparedness-packs/
While I believe in being prepared, I also am hopeful that we will vote the clowns out and / or pass a voter initiative to stop the worst of the insanity. Then again, my spouse has given the “go ahead” to bug out sometime in the next 2 years. My neighbors move out to S. America early next year… they own the land now. I’m invited to visit… and stay…
We’ll see.
FWIW, I had cause to drive across Silicon Valley in the prime commute direction at prime morning rush hour about a month ago. I did that drive for about a decade and a half. I was expecting Hell. Normally, I had it timed that I got to the freeway on ramp by 6:20 AM or it took an extra hour to go 20 miles. That day, I got out of the house at 7:30 AM. That ought to have been catastrophic. At least 20 minutes stuck 2 lights back at the on ramp, then stop and go jam on the freeway.
I was astounded to find that their was NO ONE in front of me at the light, at the intersection to the on ramp, or on the onramp. Once on the freeway it was 65 to 70 mph the whole way, only slowing to 60 at intersections with other major freeways and highway exits (101, El Camino, 280). Most of the time I had 8 to 10 car lengths to the next car. Basically, there was no real commute traffic… Just amazing.
Coupled with all the industrial property “for lease” signs I’ve seen, it sure looks to me like Silicon Valley is significantly packed up and moved out…
Even if California changes the mantra from “Tax beatings will continue until business morale improves” it will take a long time to rebuild a vibrant tax base and employment demand. The people who are staying are the ones getting transfer payments or not needing a job. Retired, pension, education grants, etc., and the Mexican immigrants working in all the restaurants and service industries. Folks on minimum wage don’t pay much income tax. Oh, and employees of the various governments.
But you can’t build a stable state on government workers and aid recipients. You need someone to fund the operation, and they are gone; or going…
.
There are many noxious emissions that should be curbed and deleted, ranging from heavy metals to carcinogens.
Who to they pick on plant-food as their prime target?
.
Anthony’s comment sent me looking at Carson City, which appears to have sufficient water (Lake Tahoe Allan M R MacRae (21:02:20) : )
Population as of the census of 2000, there are 52,457 people, 20,171 households, and 13,252 families residing in the city. The population density is 366 people per square mile (141/km²). There are 21,283 housing units at an average density of 148/sq mi (57/km²). The racial makeup of the city is 85.30% White, 1.80% Black or African American, 2.40% Native American, 1.77% Asian, 0.14% Pacific Islander, 6.46% from other races, and 2.12% from two or more races.20% of the population are Hispanic or Latino of any race.
There are 20,171 households, out of which 29.80% have children under the age of 18 living with them, 50.00% are married couples living together, 11.00% have a female householder with no husband present, and 34.30% are non-families. 27.80% of all households are made up of individuals and 11.00% have someone living alone who is 65 years of age or older. The average household size is 2.44 and the average family size is 2.97.
The city’s age distribution is: 23.40% under the age of 18, 7.90% from 18 to 24, 28.90% from 25 to 44, 24.90% from 45 to 64, and 14.90% who are 65 years of age or older. The median age is 39 years. For every 100 females there are 106.90 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there are 108.20 males.
The median income for a household in the city is $41,809, and the median income for a family is $49,570. Males have a median income of $35,296 versus $27,418 for females. The per capita income for the city is $20,943. 10.00% of the population and 6.90% of families are below the poverty line. Out of the total population, 13.70% of those under the age of 18 and 5.80% of those 65 and older are living below the poverty line.
A Deputy Sheriff’s job seem to be a great position, especially to an Englishman. Look what they want. Must be able to write clear and concise communications and reports. Must be able to provide credible testimony in a court of law. (Of course he’s guilty m’lud, I caught ‘im red ‘anded wiv ‘is ‘and in the till, trust me guv. Would I tell a lie?) MINIMUM AGE: 21 years of age by time of appointment.
http://www.carson-city.nv.us/Index.aspx?page=2045
The Carbon Credit scam is a dream-come-true for the One Worlders.
The basic goal of this dream-world ideology is to level the playing-field across the world. One central component is therefore reducing the wealth of the US and Europe, and increasing the wealth of the Third World.
As you may have noticed most of the cleaner industries (that are NOT given free Carbon Credits) are in the West. Most of the dirty factories (that ARE given free Carbon Credits) are in the Third World.
Also, if you want to open a new plant in the West, you have to buy Carbon Credits. These will often come from a Carbon Offset scam (sorry, ‘scheme’), like saving rain forests and planting trees – in the Third World. In addition, the US and Europe will play the game fairly, while the Third World will be inventing Carbon Credit scams by the million.
The net result of this will be a massive transfer of (your) wealth from the affluent West to the poor Third World – where the corrupt leaders will again waste it all on luxury goods from the West and guns and tanks from Russia. We will then have another round of tin-pot regimes across Africa and Central America battling it out with their neighbours and impoverishing their people, and all achieved with your Green taxes.
Great plan, these One Worlders have….
oops…
That should read: Rhodia is a good example of a company rich in Carbon Credits and poor in operations
http://www.climateark.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=84606&keybold=carbon%20credit%20market
henrychance (18:17:22) :
“Joe Romm on Climate progress says less than the cost of a cup of Joe a day. I knew he wasn’t telling the truth.”
He was being environmental with the truth.
Barring frosts in Brazil et al, the price of a cup of coffee will rise 250%+ in the time frame referenced.
Why does not the U.S secede from California?
ralph ellis (03:17:48) :
Good points – the Chinese are loving this.
Strange guilt ridden westerners committing societal suicide
Why on God’s green earth would we want to trade foreign energy dependency on foreign carbon credits dependency?
Washington, how stupid is that?
Cash is King
I have been debt free for over 15 years.
The only legal way to avoid paying taxes is to stop spending money.
So, cut your sending to the bone and let your reps know why you are doing it.
paulID (20:10:05)
My link refered to a story (bucko36 (17:53:57)) and did not refer to the story as a whole. Sorry you didn’t get the connection – I should have been more clear. No one thinks CA is more stupid than I – I would move, but my 80 year parents are here, and I can’t leave them, and they won’t go….
paulID (20:10:05)
My link refered to a story (bucko36 (17:53:57)) and did not refer to the story as a whole. Sorry you didn’t get the connection – I should have been more clear. No one thinks CA is more stupid than I – I would move, but my 80 year parents are here, and I can’t leave them, and they won’t go….
Oops…forgot to say great post! Looking forward to your next one.
California is too big to fail. Imply what you will, based on events of the past nine months and the smugness of California politicians.
If I had a small businees in CA, I would be looking to move. I sold my small manufacturing shop two years ago. We grossed just over $250K, employed six workers fulltime, gave health insurance and vacation benefits. Adding $50K in overhead would have put 1.5-2 employees out of work the first year. The second year would reveal we had to shut down since we couldn’t do enough work to pay the bills. Passing on the costs to the customer might eventually work, but it would take years for the customer to acquiesce to 50-100% increase in product cost. There would be no way to succeed, no point in doing the work. Sounds just like what the Dems want, so their benevelent governing can provide for all. They don’t get that without business and jobs there are no taxes to collect to provide that idyllic benevolence.
Brendan (18:10:11) :
The story is allegorical rather than strictly true. If you don’t think that the same can happen in an economy, then one only needs look at the USSR under communism. Bread lines, black market toilet paper, etc.
That road is what we have voted ourselves here.
California has been driving business away for a long time. I lived there from
1968 to 1975 and wondered why my employer had its warehouse in
Nevada while most of the customers were along the coast. The answer was
the inventory tax. Moving items there and back was cheaper than the tax.
I heard, but never confirmed, that the tax was based on the inventory on
a particular day, so firms moved everything away before tax day and
moved everything back after tax day, but the law was changed to use the
average inventory level, so they just closed the local warehouse.
Carbon Credits are a license to print money for big corps. During the California energy crisis a few years back, big companies in the Northwest shut down and sold their cheap contracted energy supplies to California. They were more profitable doing that then producing a product.
layne Blanchard (19:16:03) :
I’m with Mike D and Ron de Haan, The proper approach is to call this what it is: Absolute unbridled stupidity. (My view) –> All references to “Carbon” anything must be accompanied with adjectives that will force a confrontational debate: Fantasy, eco-zealotry, absurd, hoax, ridiculous, pointless, unnecessary, false, etc.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Whenever I hear the word “carbon” uttered from the mouth of an AGW True Believer, I just ask why he or she calls CO2 “carbon.” An unlikely clever response might be “because burning fossil fuels releases carbon from the bowels of the Earth,” to which you can respond, “and twice as many atoms of oxygen, but the point is that carbon dioxide is a compound with none of the properties of the element carbon.”