This comes up in the context of the upcoming G-8 meeting in St. Petersburg, Russia.
This year, as at past G-8 meetings, there will be another, enormously momentous item in play – a threat that will receive, all other things being equal, little if any public notice. Call it a hidden agenda. Unless President Bush asserts his adamant opposition, it is likely that the G-8 leaders will once again do what they did last year. They will endorse in some fashion the imposition of global taxes.
Yech!
Most Americans would of course reject such a notion – as has Mr. Bush in the past. For starters, as a general rule, we don’t like taxes very much. Then there is the natty little problem that we may have no say over the size or character of global taxes. These amount to “taxation without representation,” something our founders considered so intolerable they put on the line their lives, fortunes and sacred honor to be free of it.
OK, so what else is wrong here?
Worst of all, global taxes are well understood by their proponents as a way of addressing what they see as grievous ills. Chief among these is the sovereignty exercised and the concentration of wealth enjoyed by nations like the United States.
Bingo! This is why Soros, Turner, Carter, et al are salivating at the prospect of a UN based IRS.
Fortunately there IS a poison pill or two that may be in the offing:
The only hopeful news is that the Congress has begun to awaken to the danger represented by these initiatives – and the precedents they are creating. The House of Representatives has adopted legislation “that prohibits the Treasury from paying UN dues if the organization attempts to implement or impose any kind of tax on U.S. citizens.” Unfortunately, this would not necessarily prevent global taxes from being inflicted through the action of member states, as is being done now by the French and their friends.
Today [Tuesday], however, Republican Senator Jim Inhofe of Oklahoma and Democrat Ben Nelson of Nebraska will be introducing legislation designed to penalize the UN by withholding American funding if it advocates, promotes or tries to impose global taxes on U.S. citizens. They are to be commended for taking this initiative and the full Senate should adopt it at the earliest possible moment.
This is a low profile issue (especially in the MSM), but still is one worthy of close attention, or we could all wake up and find ourselves in deep…you get the idea!