The U.N. continues to grapple with the difficult question of how to subdue and corral the output of that shining beacon of capitalistic opportunity that is the United States. As with the Global Poverty Act, it is only the most noble of reasons that now send it out sniffing around like a fat rat looking for fallen crumbs in the pantry. Noble on the surface, that is.
The World Health Organization (WHO) is considering a plan to ask governments to impose a global consumer tax on such things as Internet activity or everyday financial transactions like paying bills online.
Such a scheme could raise “tens of billions of dollars” on behalf of the United Nations’ public health arm from a broad base of consumers, which would then be used to transfer drug-making research, development and manufacturing capabilities, among other things, to the developing world.
The multibillion-dollar “indirect consumer tax” is only one of a “suite of proposals” for financing the rapid transformation of the global medical industry that will go before WHO’s 34-member supervisory Executive Board at its biannual meeting in Geneva.
WHO’s so-called Expert Working Group has also suggested asking rich countries to set aside fixed portions of their gross domestic product to finance the shift in worldwide research and development, as well as asking cash-rich developing nations like China, India or Venezuela to pony up more of the money.
But the taxation ideas draw the most interest. The expert panel cites a number of possible examples. Among them:
—a 10 per cent tax on the international arms trade, “which might net about $5 billion per annum”;
—a “digital tax or ‘hit’ tax.” The report says the levy “could yield tens of billions of U.S. dollars from a broad base of users“;
—a financial transaction tax. The report approvingly cites a levy in Brazil that charged 0.38 percent on bills paid online and on unspecified “major withdrawals.” The report says the Brazilian tax was raising an estimated $20 billion per year until it was cancelled for unspecified reasons.
The panel concludes that “taxes would provide greater certainty once in place than voluntary contributions,” even as the report urges WHO’s executive board to promote all of the alternatives, and more, to support creation of a “global health research and innovation coordination and funding mechanism” for the planned revolution in medical research, development and distribution.
I read this and my Constitutionally-driven heart skips a beat or two in fear. Certainly I don’t begrudge giving help to developing nations, no one does. Allowing an organization as ineffective and corrupt as the U.N. to handle such things is bad enough but when you consider the issue of the inherent subversion of United States sovereignty contained in all of their wealth-transfer proposals, it’s a nightmare.
A nightmare already testing the waters, whether we realize it or not:
Starting [now], whenever you buy an airline ticket at a travel agency or online, there’ll be a new question to answer before you hand over your credit card: Would you be willing to donate $2 to help fight HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis in Africa?
It sounds like a small step, and many airline travelers, already irritated by compulsory surcharges for fuel, baggage and wider seats, may simply ignore it. But behind this call for a voluntary contribution is an unprecedented worldwide effort to make up a shortfall in official government aid to poor countries — a shortfall exacerbated by the world financial crisis.
The scheme, the idea of a small U.N. agency, is backed by the travel industry and heavyweights of international aid such as the William J. Clinton Foundation and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. It will be formally announced in New York City on Sept. 23 on the fringes of the U.N. General Assembly, and accompanied by a marketing blitz. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and the head of the World Bank, Robert Zoellick, are expected to participate in the launch, as well as the chief executives of the three companies that have made it technically possible: Amadeus, Sabre and Travelport/Galileo, who run the reservation and ticketing systems for most of the world’s airlines. Barring any last-minute technical or legal hitches, the scheme will roll out in late January in the U.S. and several European countries, including Britain, Germany, Spain and Switzerland.
I will repeat once again that Americans are the most generous people on this Earth. Our assistance to other countries for any reason, whether humanitarian or military, is generally more in a single instance than that of all other countries combined. We help because we want to help, not because someone says that we must. And we are able to do this because we are a free people. A people who hold fast to the inalienable right to pursue what makes us happy. And when people are happy, most are only too willing to share.
Someone needs to kick the WHO to the curb.
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