At a White House press conference today, President Obama attempted to dissuade legitimate concerns over the looming costs of the cap-and-trade energy tax bill currently in the U.S. House. He said:

At a time of great fiscal challenges, this legislation is paid for by the polluters who currently emit the dangerous carbon emissions that contaminate the water we drink and pollute the air we breathe.

While I’ve never heard anyone make the argument that carbon dioxide emissions are contaminating our drinking water before, his statement about who will pay for cap-and-trade is what bears closer attention.

We know that when government raises taxes and stifles companies with regulations that businesses pass these costs through to their customers. The Heritage Foundation released a study finding that the average family would see its yearly costs spike $3,000 under cap-and-trade. Obama is keenly aware of the pass through phenomenon because during the campaign he famously said, “under my plan of a cap-and-trade system electricity rates would necessarily skyrocket.”

Maybe the president’s point was that we are all polluters and must atone for our carbon sins in the form of higher taxes paid to his administration. Either way the “polluters” that Obama was trying to make it appear as though he was foisting the burden on, will not be the heavy industry that you envision.

No, you and I will pick up the tab for cap-and-trade.