As if it wasn't enough that local, state, and federal governments all have their hands out to the taxpayers, now Kofi Annan is getting in the act. The UN is looking at ways of directly taxing the people of the world. Let's be honest, though. The people of Ghana or Bolivia won't be asked to pay. The burden will fall squarely on us.
In fact, the U.N. is deeply committed to establishing this ‘sovereign’ power for itself -- independent of the scrutiny and direction of its large aid donors (namely the United States). It wraps this concept up in the intentionally boring globo-speak of ‘enhanced dialogues on tax co-operation’ and ‘new innovative funding mechanisms,’ but that is just intended to put a pretty bow on top of a very ugly concept -- the removal of the exclusive sovereign power of nation states to levy taxes on its citizenry.
The reason for the new push is because the US, the single largest funder of the UN, keeps holding back donations until it receives assurances that corruption is rooted out. I don't have the time or inclination to go into detail here, but "United Nations corruption" and you'll find more than enough on the subject.
The plan is to levy taxes on international transactions like currency exchanges, aviation fuel, airline tickets, carbon emissions. Of course, the UN has no police force or army of its own to enforce its tax laws so it relies on socialist governments to pass the burden on to their citizens. Already, Brazil, Chile, France, Germany, and Spain are on board with the concept. So what if the US says No? (And my elected representatives better say No.)
In the end, the only point of this taxation scheme is to continue to enrich Kofi Annan and his buddies, including all those people who made money off the Oil-for-Food scandal and got off scot-free with no repercussions.
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taxes, politics, United Nations
