— Collin Fossett

The Green New Deal will hurt your pockets. The proposed economic and environmental plan in Congress appears to do more harm than good.

When Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was first elected into Congress, she immediately led the initiative for the “Green New Deal”. The plan aims to convert the United States to 100 percent renewable energy in the next 10 years.

Renewable energy means the use of hydroelectric, wind, solar and wood burning power. Renewable energy only makes up 11 percent of our power at the moment, according to the Energy Information Administration. At least 89 percent of our power production would need to be changed. This would cost an enormous amount of money.

The Green New Deal suggests a 70 percent top tax bracket to help with the cost. Ocasio-Cortez said she would only be taxing your 10 millionth or higher dollar. If you made 100 million, you would only pay 70 percent in taxes on the last 90 million of that.

Economics professor Alexei Izyumox at the University of Louisville said this idea is bad and unrealistic.

“[A] 70 percent tax is a bad idea from an economics point of view – taxes as high as that never worked in the US and never will,” he said.

This taxation policy would be the highest tax rate America has ever seen. Many will point to the tax rates in the 1940s as the highest tax rate in history. This tax rate was 94 percent on anyone making over $200,000 which is about 2.7 million when adjusted for inflation. However, the effective tax rate, the percentage that people were paying in taxes after write-offs and loopholes, was barely over 45 percent for the top bracket according to taxfoundation.org.

Students would have a hard time paying for new cars and heaters. Unless you drive an all-electric vehicle, you would need to replace your car within the next 10 years.

Student’s financial problems would also be exacerbated with fewer job opportunities.

Many entrepreneurs and companies could move countries if this proposal passes, leaving most employees behind.

Private sector nuclear energy is an alternative to the Green New Deal. Nuclear energy has become much safer and better for the environment in recent years. Nuclear energy is cheap to produce, and countries like France use it almost exclusively. This low cost of production lowers the cost of electrical power, encouraging electric car sales. Leaving it to the private sector would attract investors, not scare them off. With increased investors, our job opportunities would increase instead of decrease.

Izyumov said, “AOC is a well-meaning person but did not study her Economics and History enough.”

Graphic by Shayla Kerr / The Louisville Cardinal