Energy tax price tag for CPI: $1. 2 billion, jobs, and production

Journal Article · Wed Mar 03 04:00:00 EST 1993 · Chemical Week; (United States)

OSTI ID:6678846

Begley, R

If President Clinton's proposed energy tax had been fully in place last year, it would have cost the US chemical industry an additional $1.2 billion and 9,900 jobs, according to Chemical Manufacturers Association (CMA; Washington) estimates. It also would have driven output down 3% and prices up 5%, CMA says. Allen Lenz, CMA director/trade and economics, says the increase in production costs that would accompany the tax will not be shared by foreign competitors, cannot be neutralized with higher border taxes because of existing trade agreements, and provides another reason to move production offshore. Worse, the US chemical industry's generally impressive trade surplus declined by $2.5 billion last year, and a further drop is projected for this year. The margin of error gets thinner all the time as competition increases, Lenz says. We're not concerned only with the chemical industry, but the rest of US-based manufacturing because they taken half our output, he adds. One problem is the energy intensiveness of the chemical process industries-a CMA report says that 55% of the cost of producing ethylene glycol is energy related. And double taxation of such things as coproducts returned for credit to oil refineries could add up to $115 million/year, the report says.

• OSTI ID: 6678846
• Journal Information: Chemical Week; (United States), Journal Name: Chemical Week; (United States) Vol. 152:8; ISSN CHWKA9; ISSN 0009-272X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

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