Posted: 01/06/2006
Superfund Tax Will Be Both Costly and Ineffective
NCPA E-Team Scholar Says EPA's Program Needs To Be Scrapped.
DALLAS (January 5, 2006) - Superfund celebrated its 25th Anniversary last month and some members of Congress commemorated the event by introducing legislation to reinstate taxes to finance the costly and ineffective program. NCPA Senior Fellow H. Sterling Burnett believes the tax will hurt already wounded companies and irreparably damage the economy.
"The Superfund tax targets a petrochemical industry already struggling to reestablish itself," said Burnett. "While some of the proposed tax revenue is earmarked to help the Gulf Coast recover from Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, in reality, the tax will likely slow economic growth and retard the rebuilding process."
The legislation, co-sponsored by Maurice Hinchey (D-NY) and Christopher Shays (R-CT), seeks to reinstate a 9.7 cent per barrel tax on oil used by U.S. refineries, impose various fees on chemicals manufactured or sold in the U.S., and add a .12 percent environmental tax on companies with corporate taxable income above $2 million.
In addition, even if the tax is enacted, its revenue will not improve the 1,529 sites on the EPA's National Priority List. Burnett notes that historically, the EPA has made relatively little progress in cleaning up the nation's hazardous waste sites since Superfund resources have gone toward legal fees.
"Instead of reinstating damaging taxes and allowing the inefficiencies of Superfund to continue, we need to reassess what has arguably been the EPA's most costly, yet least successful program," said Burnett. "It's time to throw Superfund on the scrapheap and establish new, creative solutions for the clean up of sites that pose a true threat to human health."