At the United Nation’s Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) Summit in New York this week, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Spain’s Prime Minister José Luis Zapatero both called for a global financial transaction tax to fund foreign aid projects to lift the world’s poor out of poverty. Sounding more like a populist politician than an international civil servant, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon chimed in supportively, warning developed countries not to “balance budgets on the backs of the poor.”
Trouble is, there is little evidence that the vast sums of tax dollars expended on Official Development Assistance (ODA, or foreign aid) by U.N. donor governments in the past 50 years have made much of a difference. In fact, foreign aid may actually impede the economic growth needed to achieve the MDGs.
While a September 16 report by the UNDP says the number of people in the world living on less than $1.25 a day has fallen from 1.8 billion to 1.4 billion in the last 20 years, the countries singled out in the study as having made major gains in reducing poverty—China, India, Vietnam, and Brazil—did so largely by rejecting the U.N. development model. As reported recently by The Heritage Foundation, together China and India have lifted nearly one billion of their citizens out of poverty through reforms, however limited, that promoted free markets and entrepreneurship—the policies central to The Heritage Foundation/Wall Street Journal’s Index of Economic Freedom.
Instead of preaching higher taxes to fund failed statist approaches to ending poverty, the U.N. Secretary-General should encourage world leaders to cut taxes and reduce state intervention in the economy, strengthen the independence of a country’s judiciary, and protect private property.
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6 commentsAs the U.S. PRINTS MORE MONEY to prime the economy/inflation pump,
FORCED AUSTERITY is rolling across Europe
Austerity http://bit.ly/cXuIVV
The United Nations is most widely known as an over-paid, over-staffed traveling showtime. Containing an overload of well-heeled personal publicity seekers who would love to shuttle trillion $'s of other people's money into corrupted countries (with the added certainties of indirectly funding terrorist ill-will) the UN must not be permitted to interfere in member countries' independent sovereign affairs.
Today's political roosters are tomorrow's feather dusters. As quickly as it takes for one idea to emerge, it more quickly dissolves with changes in government.
At public level, this nonsensical tax idea would be a divisive, short-term policy to capture monies for deliverance to unpopular pre-determined "causes" in destinations that appear to accept no responsibility for problems self-exacerbated by over-population.
As well, such a tax is widely discredited on grounds of impracticability, inequity, instability and negative flow-on effects such as high potential to throw millions of tax-paying sectors out of work. As this tax is often described in terms of revenge on banks, what about the majority of international banks that have always been well-regulated, did not fail, and do no harm.
As demonstrated by China and its reforms (including population control) there are more sensible, more practicable and far less damaging alternatives for helping others to help themselves.
Thank you for that article. That transaction tax proposal is just economically crazy during good times let alone in one of the worst economies. It would stop a huge percent of investing. The tax costs would multiply exponentially as numerous transactions cascade into the next stage of production and severely reduce investment yields in the same way.
And like China, India, Vietnam, and Brazil, the taxpayers of America have no interest giving good money to corrupt organizations. Without the U.N. and it's expense and WITH PROPER leadership, the world could figure it out for themselves. The human minds are powerful, Have the dignity to respect their abilities.
And Yes, Mr. President, we help freely. No need for forced obligation.
The U.N. Wants To Tax The World Out Of Poverty…
By Jim Roberts At the United Nation’s Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) Summit in New York this week, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Spain’s Prime Minister José Luis Zapatero both called for a global financial transaction tax to fund foreign ai…
The same thing is true with American poverty. If they just left poor people alone we would all be better off. People on the Left never can seem to get it that poor people pay Pass Through taxes. Do the Math behind demographic reality there are a great many more poor people paying ridiculous prices and stopped from helping themselves. We have activists creating poor people in America. "Spooky Dude" is paying them big money! And you suppose poor folks are most exploitable, and therefore "useful." Saving doesn't work because Interest Rates are held down, Investing doesn't work because Markets are manipulated to destroy Markets. Income Tax obviates Capital Formation. Real Estate doesn't work because prices are kept high to save the Revenue Base. We like to think high Finance doesn't effect the poor, but look! Progressives took all the ladders! Now how do I get out of this hole?
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