Earth to the KC Star: Blunt is lying about a "hidden climate tax"

The KC Star reprinted a "special" article from Roy Blunt today, one in which he repeats his completely false claims about a "hidden tax" of $3,000 in the President's climate change proposals: 

New energy tax threatens Americans
By Roy Blunt, Special to The Kansas City Star

Imagine paying an additional $3,000 hidden tax every year. Unfortunately, you might not have to imagine that extra burden because the last thing Congress did before going home for the Easter holiday was to pass a budget that spends too much, borrows too much and taxes families, small businesses and farmers too much...

But if the Democrats’ budget is signed into law – a budget I voted against in the House – that $3,000 will go directly to this new, regressive energy tax.

As we've noted several times, this is an utterly false claim -- not according to us, but according to the scientist who wrote the report cited by Blunt. But that hasn't stopped Blunt from reprinting the claim. 

It should, however, stop the KC Star from reprinting it.

When fellow GOP Rep. Michele Bachmann was allowed to print the same discredited claim to scare Minnesotans, the opinion page editor for the Minneapolis Star Tribune said he was “embarrassed to have let [the faulty assertion] go unchallenged.”

You don't have to take my word for it.  Here are the facts:

• PolitiFact.com GOP full of hot air about Obama's "light switch tax"
• MIT Scientist: Republicans Misusing My Climate Change Paper
• Wall Street Journal: MIT to Republicans: Lay off the Scaremongering on Climate Costs
• TPM Media: Republicans: We Stand By Our Distortion of MIT Study
• NY Times: A brawl over numbers breaks out in cap-and-trade debate
• The Business Insider: Republicans Flat Out Lying About Cap And Trade
• Las Vegas Sun: Pants on Fire: Study’s author says Ensign, others wrong
• The Wonk Room: Editor: ‘I’m Embarrassed’ I Published Bachmann’s Lying Column

And if that doesn't convince you, ask one of the authors of the report used to back up Blunt's claim:

"It's just wrong," said John Reilly, an energy, environmental and agricultural economist at M.I.T. and one of the authors of the report. "It's wrong in so many ways it's hard to begin."

Not only is it wrong, but he told the House Republicans it was wrong when they asked him.

How many times will Blunt and his fellow Republicans be allowed to get away with this? 

The Star should be embarrassed.