>>Valley Patriot>> |
Let me
explain. The United Nations is proposing a worldwide tax
on all industrialized countries to finance a round of new
programs to help those in poor countries. Our generous
foreign aid and that of our allies is no longer enough
for U.N. bureaucrats who see this tax as a way to pry
more money out of the productive members of society and
transfer it those who are less productive. Not surprisingly, the U.N. tax formula is geared to raise the bulk of its money from the wealthier nations - targeting the U.S. in particular. The United Nations is looking to assess the U.S. and other developed countries 0.7 percent of their gross national income to help finance the new “Millennium Development Goals” program. Staff members of Secretary-General Kofi Annan claim the U.S. is now only allocating 0.15 percent of its gross national income to foreign aid and thus owes the world body an additional $65 billion a year in contributions. Of course, this is to be assessed retroactively to 2002 – similar to what our state legislature is inclined to do – and would be a required, additional U.N. payment every year through at least 2015. The total from the U.S. alone would thus be $845 billion more, and that’s on top of the tens of billions we now provide in foreign aid and assistance every year. Since this huge new tax may cause some countries to balk at signing on, alternatives being floated around are a tax on all international plane tickets or even a tax on international currency transactions. One way or another, the United Nations seems determined to institute some kind of global tax or “globotax.” With the United Nations moving ahead in this direction, our congress fortunately is starting to take some action to protect American citizens. It should come as no surprise that many members of the House and Senate have little use for the United Nations and no confidence in its ability to manage money. Just look at the Iraqi Oil-for-Food program and the corruption that took place. Even Kofi Annan’s son profited from this debacle and Annan, himself, has been less than cooperative in getting to the bottom of this fraud and sleaze. In June, Representative Henry Hyde (R-IL) brought to the floor a United Nations Reform Bill (H.R. 2745) that would withhold up to 50 percent of U.S. dues payments if the international organization did not adopt dozens of explicit, wide-ranging reforms. The bill passed by a larger than expected margin. This was at least a start. Then, to stop the insanity of globotaxes, on July 19th Representative Roy Blunt (R-MO) introduced an amendment to the State Department Authorization Bill (H.R. 2601) that would block all efforts of the United Nations to tax U.S. citizens. More specifically, the amendment requires, in part, that: United States representatives at the United Nations shall (1) use the voice, vote, and influence of the United States to vigorously oppose any effort by the United Nations or any of its specialized or affiliated agencies to fund, approve, advocate, or promote any proposal concerning the imposition of a tax or fee on any United States person in order to raise revenue for the United Nations or any such agency; and (2) declare that a United States person shall not be subject to any international tax and shall not be required to pay such tax if such tax is levied against such person. The amendment
was adopted by the House without objection and now the
appropriations bill goes to the Senate. *Send your questions
comments to ValleyPatriot@aol.com |
We pay taxes to the town. We pay
taxes to the state. We pay taxes to the federal
government.