Dear A-Letter Reader:
Over 60 years since its founding, the United Nations may have, on balance, done some good. But objective observers would be hard pressed to create a short list of major UN accomplishments. Most recently the UN has been mired in the Iraq oil-for-food corruption scandals, with millions of dollars stolen reaching to the highest levels of the UN.
Instead of cleaning up, the UN has tried to cover up.
Too often the UN, spending millions on its own bureaucracy and its endless meetings and reports, has been a waste of time and money. And most of that cash comes from American taxpayers. So you shouldn't be surprised, (especially because we've been warning you since 2002), that the UN wants to become an international tax collection agency - a global IRS.
Those worthies at Babel on the Hudson want to impose on the already burdened taxpayers of the world, a new round of direct "global taxes" to finance the UN and its pet programs. This tax would supplement annual assessments of dues from each nation. In 2002, we reported about a UN conference held in Monterey, Mexico, that we called "the tax collectors meeting from Hell" where the UN made plans for a UN "international tax organization."
U.S. Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) has renewed our warning about this dangerous UN plan. He advises us to "hold on to your wallets, because the UN now wants to impose a whole new level of global taxes on us. UN bureaucrats think rich nations like America ought to give more money to poor nations - a lot more - simply because we're rich. The UN mindset blames the western world for poverty everywhere, assuming that our relative wealth must have come at the expense of the third world."
Kofi Annan, UN Secretary General, is the cheerleader for this biggest power grab yet - independent tax raising powers. The UN is deeply committed to establishing this "sovereign" power for itself, without scrutiny and direction of its large aid donors (namely the U.S.). It wraps this up in what one writer calls the "boring globo-speak of 'enhanced dialogues on tax co-operation' and 'new innovative funding mechanisms.'"
The UN wants to tax everything from airline tickets to aviation fuel and carbon emissions. Not to mention each and every international currency transaction.
The last time this came up for debate in the UN, the Bush administration position was made clear by U.S. Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman who said: "Global taxes are inherently undemocratic. Implementation is impossible." The U.S. also refused to sign or agree to a UN declaration endorsing global UN taxes.
Rep. Paul says: "Rest assured that the UN is absolutely serious about imposing a global tax. In fact, it has been discussing a global currency tax for years." As a precaution, the U.S. House of Representatives last week adopted Rep. Paul's amendment that prohibits the U.S. Treasury from paying UN dues if the UN attempts to implement or impose any kind of tax on U.S. citizens. As Ron Paul says: "Given the stated goals of the UN, it would be foolish to believe the idea of a global tax will go away."
The UN is just one of the global bureaucracies undermining fiscal sovereignty. The Paris based Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) targets tax havens and so-called "harmful tax competition" and the European Union enthusiastically backs "tax harmonization." In both cases they want more and higher taxes.
As Heritage Foundation tax expert Dan Mitchell says: "There is an understandable temptation to dismiss these UN proposals as silly. After all, the U.S. can veto any bad initiatives. But this passive approach is a mistake." We agree. You should educate yourself thoroughly about these dangerous proposals and let your elected national officials know your strong opposition.
It's bad enough to be forced to pay high taxes in one's own nation without also having to finance the worldwide loony Left as well.
That's the way that it looks from here.
BOB BAUMAN, Editor
EDITOR'S NOTE: There are still places that have fair and sensible low tax and financial privacy policies. I have written special reports on two such places in Panama Money Secrets and Hong Kong Money Secrets. For more information, check out the Sovereign Society Book Store.