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Using Your Tax Dollars to Push for Class Warfare
Today’s column once again is by our friend and associate, Dan Mitchell of the Cato Institute. This article appeared in New York Post (Online) on December 16, 2011, and it is on a topic about which I have had much to say over the years (see here for example).
by Daniel J. Mitchell
In his class-warfare campaign for higher tax rates and more redistribution, President Obama has picked up support from the usual suspects, including union bosses, left-wingers in Congress and the establishment media. But he’s also getting help from the bureaucrats at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development — which gets $100 million a year from US taxpayers.
Most Americans have never heard of the OECD; Paris-based, it for decades has concentrated on such innocuous tasks as gathering statistics. But in recent years, it’s morphed into an advocate for the European economic model of big government and interventionism.
As documented by a study from the Center for Freedom and Prosperity, the OECD’s bureaucrats endorsed ObamaCare, supported the failed stimulus and are big promoters of a value-added tax for America. The OECD even has an anti-tax competition project to persecute low-tax jurisdictions.
For lawmakers looking for ways to save tax dollars, eliminating the OECD’s subsidy would be a good place to start.
Now it has launched a big project on “inequality,” complete with books, conferences and other forms of propaganda to promote higher tax rates. Wednesday, for instance, the OECD teamed up with the AFL-CIO for a presentation at the union’s headquarters entitled “Divided We Stand — Tackling Growing Inequality Now.”
In its press release on income difference, the OECD “underlines the need for governments to review their tax systems to ensure that wealthier individuals contribute their fair share of the tax burden.” OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurria recently came out for punitive and destructive taxes on wealth, praising governments that are looking at “not only the possibility of raising marginal tax rates on the rich but also… reassessing the role of taxes on all forms of property and wealth.”
The OECD even used American tax dollars for a fancy three-day conference in India on the topic of “Tax and Inequality.” At no point, of course, does the organization explain how you help poor people by penalizing entrepreneurs, investors, small business owners, and other “rich” people.
Support by Europeans for Obama’s efforts to Europeanize America is no surprise. But the OECD shouldn’t be using American tax dollars to promote Obama’s class-warfare agenda — especially since OECD bureaucrats get tax-free salaries.
Actually, the real issue is whether it makes sense for American taxpayers to subsidize the OECD. OK, $100 million may not sound like much money when the federal budget imposes a $4 trillion-a-year burden on the economy. But when you look at how the OECD spends money, it quickly becomes apparent that sending US tax dollars to this Paris-based bureaucracy may be the most destructive on a per-dollar basis.
For lawmakers looking for ways to save tax dollars, eliminating the OECD’s subsidy would be a good place to start.
Bob Bauman adds: Email your local Member of the U.S. House of Representatives or one of your U.S. Senators and ask them to pledge to end these senseless OECD subsidies.
Other Posts from the Author
- Are You Among the 23% Entitled to a Second Passport? - May 14th, 2012
- The Real Problem With the French Elections - May 4th, 2012
- The Life of a “Sovereign Individual” - April 24th, 2012
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You read like an organ written by the RNC. Such Bullshit. What do you call the movement of wealth upward while the lower incomes remain unmoved for the past decade or more. Should’t that be called “income redistribution” upward by 40%? “Redistribution” is a naughty word only when some might move a bit downward. Don,t give me this “Job Creator” nonsense. Enormous wealth at the top doesn’t create jobs; Widespread demand and subsequent supply does create jobs and economic stability. How can I trust what else you say when you write this kind of self-destructive GOP Propaganda?
BOB SAYS: Well Bruce, why don’t you say what you really think? (Just kidding!) You really don’t know much about me or my views on the issues you so eloquently raise. So try reading these:
http://sovereign-investor.com/2011/10/24/occupy-pennsylvania-avenue/
http://sovereign-investor.com/2011/11/18/fertilizing-the-tree-of-liberty/
LoL.. What a complete moron (Bruce Dame). Even without the two referenced articles, there is absolutely nothing written in this article that supports a “trickle down” or “job creator” POV. Uneducated and Herd like minds like Bruce on both sides of our hypocritical two party system is what’s wrong with this country. I’m getting my second citizenship and leaving all of the lazy dumn ass’s in their shared misery to suck it raw. My heart goes out to those who don’t make it out but deserve to.
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