Carbon tax won’t help consumers
6/4/2013Some seem to believe that a carbon tax would reduce carbon dioxide emissions and over two decades produce revenue of an estimated trillion dollars that could be used to reduce income taxes (“Carbon tax is best option,” guest editorial, May 13). Companies that require fossil fuel to produce their products will continue to use the same amount of fuel.
These companies will be forced to purchase carbon credits from an exchange, which in turn purchases them from a nonpolluting source, such as a wind farm.
The carbon tax would be another form of value-added tax paid by the person who buys the finished product. The amount of money taxpayers save in reduced income taxes will be offset by the increased cost of the products they purchase.
There is no specific example of an industry that will be able to reduce its carbon dioxide output because of a carbon tax.
RAYMOND ELIEFF
Suder Avenue
Different cases, but same result
Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Timothy McGinty said his office will decide whether to bring aggravated murder charges against Ariel Castro in connection with pregnancies that were terminated by blunt force (“Death penalty weighed as abuse details surface; 1 captive forced to miscarry 5 times, police say,” May 10).
Does this mean that doctors who terminate pregnancies by abortion also could be charged? They perform abortions in a clinic that the Supreme Court says is legal.
But the result is the same: A human life is taken. It’s amazing how we can justify the taking of a life in one case but not another.
MARCIA BOHNSACK
Oregon
UTMC students’ protest applauded
Kudos to Avneet Singh and her fellow University of Toledo Medical Center students, who continue to remind the public of the hypocrisy of UTMC and its mission as a public hospital (“Protesters urge Jacobs to save abortion clinics; Transfer pact issue brought to trustees’ attention,” May 14).
UT President Lloyd Jacobs cannot claim neutrality because he speaks out of both sides of his mouth. He will treat women dying from septic shock, but turns a blind eye to the reality of what happens to women when abortion is illegal. It is a chilling precedent when hospitals are threatened and laws are written that place an undue burden on a single segment of society.
Transfer agreements are unnecessary red tape and are just another hurdle facing abortion providers, who save the lives of thousands of women a year.
SALLY KELLER
Sabra Road
Money, people yet to be seen
Toledo Mayor Mike Bell says his trips abroad bring big money to Toledo (“Mayor’s priorities misaligned,” Readers’ Forum, May 29).
Meanwhile, people who have enough money are leaving Toledo for more desirable places to put down roots.
JOYCE DOUGLAS
Ward Street