> Subject: > R. A. Hettinga wrote: > > --- begin forwarded text > > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Date: Thu, 12 Jul 2001 10:00:10 EDT > Subject: The end of liberty > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > Dear Friends: > > Some of you may have thought some of our fears about the what the statists > have planned to end our freedoms were exaggerated. The following is from a > UN report last week - unfortunately it shows that the paranoid were right. > > The U.N. High Level Panel on Financing for Development > Recommends Making Orwell's Big Brother Real > > On June 25, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan provided the report of the High > Level Panel on Financing for Development to the General Assembly. He > appointed the panel in December of 2000. Annan considers the report a "sold > piece of work" and commends the panel for the "energy, imagination and effort > that they brought to their task." The recommendations of this report will be > considered at Conference on Financing for Development which will take place > in Monterrey, Mexico between March 18 and March 22, 2002. > > The report recommends the creation of an International Tax Organization (ITO) > (pages 27-28, 64-66). The ITO would "sponsor a mechanism for multilateral > sharing of tax information, like that already in place with OECD, so as to > curb the scope for evasion of taxes on investment income earned abroad." > (page 28). > > The OECD harmful tax competition would require targeted small low tax > countries to routinely provide all financial information on citizens and > investors in those countries to the 30 industrialized OECD countries. The > OECD initiative imposes absolutely no requirements whatsoever on the country > receiving the information to take any steps to protect financial privacy and > no requirement that any OECD country show any probable cause that wrongdoing > has been committed before being provided the information. Countries that do > not comply with this total abrogation of financial privacy would be subject > to extraordinarily brutal sanctions. The OECD would not require its own > members to comply with these rules. Large countries, like the United States, > that provide tax advantages to foreign investors and honor financial privacy > of its citizens and investors (at least to some degree) would be exempt from > the OECD rules but would not be exempt from the United Nations ITO rules. > The proposed U.N. ITO would result in every U.N. member government having > routine unqualified access to the financial information of the citizens of > all U.N. member states. It would undoubtedly result in governments receiving > this information using it not only for tax purposes but for intelligence > purposes and to oppress minorities and political opposition. > > The report states: > > "The taxes that one country can impose are often constrained by the tax rates > of others: this is true of sales taxes on easily transportable goods, of > income taxes on mobile factors (in practice, capital and highly qualified > personnel) and corporate taxes on activities where the company has a choice > of location. Countries are increasingly competing not by tariff policy or > devaluing their currencies but by offering low tax rates and other tax > incentives, in a process sometimes called 'tax degradation'." (page 65) > > "It [the ITO] might engage in negotiations with tax havens to persuade them > to desist from harmful tax competition. It could take a lead role in > restraining the tax competition designed to attract multinationals - > competition that, as noted earlier, often results in the lion's share of the > benefits of foreign direct investment accruing to the foreign investor." > (page 65) > > Tax competition is a highly desirable limit on the degree to which > governments can tax and a check on the inefficiency and corruption of > government. Countries that wish to attract investment from abroad by > providing low taxes have every right to do so and neither the U.N. nor the > OECD should dictate tax levels to sovereign states. > > "Another task that might fall to an ITO would be the development, negotiation > and operation of international arrangement for the taxation of emigrants. At > present most emigrants pay taxes only to their host country, an arrangement > that exposes source countries to the risk of economic loss when many of their > most able citizens emigrate." (page 66) > > The idea that a government should be able to impose taxes on those that have > emigrated from its jurisdiction is repugnant and a violation of fundamental > human rights. It rests of the premise that the state retains a right to the > fruits of its national's labor and investment income even after they have > emigrated. It should be viewed as a violation of Article 13 of the Universal > Declaration of Human Rights adopted by the U.N. General Assembly in 1948 > which states in relevant part that "[e]veryone has the right to leave any > country." > > The report recommends that a currency transactions tax or carbon (CO2) tax be > imposed to finance the various schemes in recommends. (pages 26-27) > Providing the United Nations with the ability to directly tax the nationals > of its several states would effectively create the first global government. > It would commence a process of centralization similar to that currently being > undertaken by the European Union and will necessarily exact a steep price in > terms of reduced freedom and limits on U.S. national sovereignty. > > The report recommends that foreign aid from developed countries be 0.7 > percent of GDP (or $70 billion for the U.S., a nearly 8 fold increase). (page > 21) The report endorsed steps to create a global council to promote global > governance because "modern globalization calls for global governance." (pages > 24, 26). > > For more information contact: > > David R. Burton 703-548-5868 > Richard W. Rahn 202-659-3200 > Dan R. Mastromarco 703-548-5868 > > Background Information on the U.N. High Level Panel on Financing for > Development > > The U.N. report is available at http://www.un.org/esa/ffd/a55-1000.pdf > > On December 15, 2000 UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan appointed Ernesto > Zedillo the former President of Mexico, to be the Chairman of the High Level > Panel on Financing for Development to make recommendations to the United > Nations International Conference on Financing for Development which will take > place in Monterrey, Mexico between March 18 and March 22, 2002. > > Also appointed to the High-Level Panel on Financing for Development were: > > Abdulatif Al-Hammad, President, Arab Fund for Economic Development, Kuwait; > David Bryer, Director of OXFAM, United Kingdom; > Mary Chinery-Hesse, Former Deputy Director-General of the International > Labour Organization, Ghana; > Jacques Delors, former Finance Minister of France and President of the > European Commission; > Rebeca Grynspan, former Vice-President, Costa Rica; > Aleksander Livshitz, Chairman of the Board of the Russian Credit Bank; > Majid Osman, former Finance Minister of Mozambique, who now heads a > commercial bank; > Robert Rubin, former Secretary of the Treasury, United States; > Manmohan Singh, former Minister of Finance, India; and > Masayoshi Son, President and Chief Executive Officer of Softbank Corporation > in Japan. > > Background Information on the OECD Harmful Tax Competition Initiative > > Harmful Tax Competition: An Emerging Global Issue is available for purchase > ($16.00) and immediate download at: > > http://www.oecd.org/../scripts/publications/bookshop/redirect.asp?231998041E1 > > This is the original OECD report that initiated the process. It provides > details of the initiative and the sanctions that would be imposed on small, > low tax countries. > > --------- > > The OECD report Towards Global Tax Cooperation, Report to the 2000 > Ministerial Council Meeting is available at: > > http://www.oecd.org/daf/fa/harm_tax/Report_En.pdf > > --------- > > The MOU that the OECD is seeking to impose on small countries can be found at: > > http://www.oecd.org/media/release/nw00-123a.htm > > --------- > > The OECD blacklist can be found at: > http://www.oecd.org/media/release/nw00-66a.htm > > ------------ > > An informative web site on the issue, hosted by the Center for Freedom and > Prosperity, is located at > http://www.freedomandprosperity.org/Articles/articles.shtml. This site > contains press coverage on the issue, Congressional letters, links to > articles and the like. > > --------------- > > Articles of particular interest include: > > http://www.freedomandprosperity.org/Articles/tni12-18-00.pdf (Marshall Langer) > http://www.heritage.org/library/backgrounder/bg1395es.html (Dan Mitchell) > > --- end forwarded text > > -- > ----------------- > R. A. Hettinga <mailto: [EMAIL PROTECTED]> > The Internet Bearer Underwriting Corporation <http://www.ibuc.com/> > 44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA > "... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity, > [predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to > experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire' --- You are currently subscribed to e-gold-list as: archive@jab.org To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
