Tax on electric emissions takes effect this month after being voted on in November
Boulder citizens may be startled when they pay their bills this month. A new tax, aimed at aiding the environment, may cause numbers to soar.
In November 2006, voters in Boulder decided to become the first in the nation to impose a carbon tax on homeowners and businesses. The tax became effective April 1 with the purpose of reducing and funding emissions and funding efforts to deter global warming.
The tax is based on the number of kilowatt-hours used and is estimated to add approximately $16 a year to an average homeowner’s electricity bill and $46 for businesses. The area’s main gas and electric company, Xcel Energy, is collecting the revenue from the tax.
Ethnie Groves, spokeswoman for Xcel Energy, said the company is really just an outside factor to the new tax and the plan really belongs to the City of Boulder.
“Xcel Energy really is just collecting the money and forwarding it directly on to the city. It’s (even) a separate line on the bill,” Groves said.
The money collected by Xcel Energy will be passed on and channeled through the city’s Office of Environmental Affairs.
The purpose of the tax, with a projected accumulation of $860,000 per year, is to pay for Boulder’s Climate Action Plan, a plan to create a sustainable energy future for Boulder. The CAP relies on three strategies: increasing energy efficiency in homes and buildings, switching to renewable energy and vehicle fuels and reducing miles vehicles travel.
Energy efficiency programs in Boulder have been funded by a trash tax in the past, but the City of Boulder believes that having the carbon tax will create more funding and may also lead to more environmentally savvy citizens.
Beth Powell, marketing and communications coordinator for the City of Boulder’s Energy and Climate Programs, explained the effect she hopes the tax will have.
“The funding (for energy efficiency programs) is now directly coming from the Climate Action Plan (carbon) tax and that is going to be an itemized tax on the Xcel bill that everybody can see,” Powell said. “Our hope is that people will look at that and see what their usage is and even use that as a kind of a baseline for decreasing that over time.”
The City of Boulder believes that CAP will energize and strengthen the community, while also boosting the economy by reducing money spent on emissions.
Boulder’s liberal college environment may have been key to the city becoming the first to accept an environmentally aimed tax increase.
Powell said he attributes the acceptance of the environmental initiative to the mindset of Boulder citizens.
“People really respect the environment here, so there’s already a community of progressive, forward thinking, environmentally focused citizens who want the beauty of Boulder to remain,” she said.
In addition, Powell said he sees an element of empowerment in the Boulder community.
“People here believe that what they do on an individual basis can (actually) make a difference,” she said.
But the very population who may have allowed for the acceptance of the tax (young, open-minded students) may in fact be the ones who suffer from its implementation.
The tax only amounts to about $1.30 per household per month. However, this additional dollar means that struggling students now have to take a little more from their budgets each month to pay the bills.
Advertising major Shannon Brewer expressed some frustration with the new tax.
“My roommates and I already have a high Xcel bill and the additional charge of a carbon tax is annoying because it adds to the increasing price of the bill, which is already hard to pay for and expensive in the City of Boulder,” Brewer said.
Despite some disgruntled students, the tax has been well received by the community at large.
“In terms of feedback, there’s been nothing negative so far,” Powell said.
Time will tell whether support fades as the bills keep coming each month.
Contact Campus Press staff writer Elizabeth Cuje at elizabeth.cuje@thecampuspress.com.
