The White House budget estimate of $646 billion in higher energy taxes under the guise of cap-and-trade always looked like a lowball. Now the deputy director of the White House National Economic Council, Jason Furman, is giving us a glimpse at the real number, telling Senate staff the energy tax scheme would actually raise "two-to-three times" the budget's official $646 billion revenue estimate. Dow Jones reports that 5 people at the meeting confirmed the statement.

That would mean the actual tax hike would run well into the trillions, roughly between $1.3 trillion and $1.9 trillion between fiscal years 2012 and 2019 by Furman's own estimate.

Remember that these are just the costs for the first 8 years of a 40 year program that gets much more expensive over time. This is the final knock-out blow for a wobbly U.S. economy, and the more people learn the facts the more strongly they'll oppose it.