Given
the kleptocratic nature of international bureaucracies (particularly my good buddies at the Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development),
I’m never surprised when a bad proposal is unveiled.
And
since the United Nations has a long track record of supporting global taxation (with the money
going to the U.N., of course), I’m even less surprised when that crowd produces
another idea for fleecing people in the productive sector of the economy.
Here
are some excerpts from a Yahoo report.
The United Nations on Thursday
called for a tax on billionaires to help raise more than $400 billion a year
for poor countries. An annual lump sum payment by the super-rich is one of a
host of measures including a tax on carbon dioxide emissions, currency
exchanges or financial transactions proposed in a UN report that accuses
wealthy nations of breaking promises to step up aid for the less fortunate.
These
people love taxes, perhaps because they get tax-free salaries.
But
setting aside their despicable hypocrisy, there’s scant evidence, if any, that
foreign aid does anything other than foment corruption in recipient nations.
And there’s lots of evidence, by contrast, thatfree markets and small government do create prosperity.
Yet
the United Nations reflexively wants to line the pockets of the political elite
in poor nations. And we’re not talking about pocket change.
The report estimates that the number
of people around the globe worth at least $1 billion rose to 1,226 in 2012.
There are an estimated 425 billionaires in the United States, 315 in the Asia-Pacific
region, 310 in Europe, 90 in other North and South American countries and 86 in
Africa and the Middle East. Together they own an estimated $4.6 trillion so a
one percent tax on their wealth would raise more than $46 billion, according to
the report. “Would this hurt them?” it questioned.
You
have to appreciate the supreme irony of pampered international bureaucrats demanding
that others should surrender some of their money.
I’m
also impressed by their ability to come up with new tax schemes.
The document gives other ideas for
international taxes, including:
·
– a tax of $25
per tonne on carbon dioxide emissions would raise about $250 billion. It could
be collected by national governments, but allocated to international
cooperation.
·
– a tax of
0.005 percent on all currency transactions in the dollar, yen, euro and pound
sterling could raise $40 billion a year.
·
– taking a
portion of a proposed European Union tax on financial transactions for
international cooperation. The tax is expected to raise more than $70 billion a
year.
…Without commenting on any of the individual taxes proposed,
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said that if the new “innovative financing” is
to become viable, “strong international agreement is needed.”
Let’s
close with some good news. Proposals for global taxation from the United
Nations are so radical and so far from the mainstream that even the Obama Administration generally is opposed to these
crack-pot ideas.
Though
that may simply be because Obama wants to seize the money for his own class-warfare purposes and doesn’t want to
compete with other taxing authorities. Sort of the way hyenas and vultures
sometime fight over a carcass. Or how inner-city gangs sometimes fight over
turf.
Actually,
I apologize for those analogies. I hope the carrion feeders and gang-bangers of
the world will forgive me for equating them with politicians.
“That’s
an unfair slur”
Hyenas
and vultures both have valuable roles in the ecosystem. And gangs sometimes
engage in non-coercive activities such as selling drugs to yuppies.
It’s
beyond my abilities, however, to say something nice about politicians.
Source: Townhall Finance
Comments:
It’s
time to quit the UN, close it and move it to Zimbabwe.
Norb
Leahy, Dunwoody GA Tea Party Leader
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