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Chirac to back "globalisation tax" talks
Swiss Info ^
| September 2 2002
| Reuters
Posted on 09/02/2002 2:45:55 PM PDT by knighthawk
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - French President Jacques Chirac will urge world leaders to launch talks on a new international tax to fight world poverty, sources with him at the Earth Summit in Johannesburg say.
The sources said Chirac rejected the existing "Tobin Tax" proposal to raise levies purely on foreign exchange transactions but would call in a speech to the summit for discussion on a wider tax on wealth generated by globalisation.
"It could be a tax on airplane tickets, on carbon dioxide, on health products sold in industrialised countries, and indeed on international financial transactions," one source said.
"The idea of wanting to hold back a small share (of global wealth) to relieve poverty is not a mad idea at all. But the debate has been polluted by the campaign on the Tobin Tax," the same source added.
The Tobin Tax, championed by non-governmental groups as a way both to raise funds and to deter financial speculation, attracted much interest particularly in Europe last year but since appears to have fallen out of favour.
European officials have noted possible problems with the tax, proposed by U.S. Nobel Prize winner James Tobin in the 1970s. One is that financial markets would simply move to those countries that chose not to apply the tax.
World leaders began arriving at the World Summit on Sustainable Development on Monday hoping to settle differences over an action plan to end what South African President Thabo Mbeki called "global apartheid" between rich and poor.
The sources close to Chirac, who was due to speak in Johannesburg around midday local time (11 a.m. British time) on Monday, pointed to studies suggesting global development aid would have to be doubled to around $100 billion (64 billion pounds) to really fight poverty.
TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: chirac; france; globalapartheid; globalization; globaltax; socialism; tax; unitednations
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Maybe France would also like to donate some of the huge sum of argicultural subsidy money they collect form the EU.
To: Tom Jefferson; backhoe; Militiaman7; BARLF; timestax; imintrouble; cake_crumb; Brad's Gramma; ...
No more UN for US-list
If people want on or off this list, please let me know.
To: knighthawk
The day we agree to an "international tax" is the day nationhood dies.
Chirac is no conservative.
3
posted on
09/02/2002 2:47:59 PM PDT
by
Dog Gone
To: Dog Gone
Yes, Chirac is a European-style right-winger. That means in the US he would vote Democrat.
To: knighthawk
Jacques Chirac will urge world leaders to launch talks on a new international tax to fight world poverty... That's right, tax your way to wealth.
To: Dog Gone
I also got a nice story to illustrate that.
On the List Pim Fortuyn forum, some one told me he once went to a party and the PvdA-socialist people told him they thought of him like an ultra-right guy. But he told me compared to me he felt more left to the center!
To: NovemberCharlie
A few years back, France was the 4th on the list of wealthiest countries. The Netherlands ranked 10th.
Still France recieved more money from the EU than they paid, the Netherlands found themselves in the paying part of the EU.
France should shut up and start paying themselves!
To: knighthawk
One is that financial markets would simply move to those countries that chose not to apply the tax. Well DUH! Can these guys spell C-A-Y-M-A-N?
8
posted on
09/02/2002 2:56:26 PM PDT
by
facedown
To: knighthawk
Yes, Chirac is far better than most of his counterparts in Europe, and it's a shame that on the conservative spectrum there is nothing between a Chirac and a Le Pen.
9
posted on
09/02/2002 2:59:20 PM PDT
by
Dog Gone
To: Dog Gone
I have an idea.
Let France give as much money as the USA is giving around the world, than they can talk about charity.
How many times did we bail out france? Two World Wars, Vietnam, The Franc, their train system, the Marshall plan.
Since we the USA have given so much, perhaps we should now stop giving aid, defend our borders using the troops we have in Europe, and tell the world, We have had enough of solving your problems. SOLVE YOUR OWN PROBLEMS now.
To: NovemberCharlie
Where does all the money go already for the fight against poverty? How about a little good old fashioned accounting with real numbers that add up.
To: Thebaddog
Come on. You don't think Enron was the first case of 'creative' accounting, do you? There hasn't been a government you or I can name that's kept honest books since colonial times (Hamilton was scrupulously honest, for instance, as SecTreas, and there wasn't a bureaucracy then to sandbag him).
Figure 60-75% of all 'aid' is stolen, one way or another, skimming, baksheesh,kickbacks, shoddy goods/workmanship, rakeoffs, backscratches, doubtless several common tactics I've missed. Marcos may have been the all time champ, but Duvalier, Mbutu Sese Soko, Savimbi, Nkrumah and Aristide have to be on the list somewhere, too.
Honest books would also mention contingent liabilities such as loan guarantees, below-cost insurance (think FDIC), un- and underfunded pension liabilities, et. al. By an honest count, the US debt is more on the order of $22-23 trillion than $6 trillion.
12
posted on
09/02/2002 4:08:09 PM PDT
by
SAJ
To: SAJ
Who's going to pass this? The U.N.? Well the USA will just veto it. How is the U.N. going to collect this tax from countries that don't go along? Of course in '08 when Hillary is in office and the Dem's control both houses all bets are off.
To: Thebaddog
"Where does all the money go...". Look in private Swiss bank accounts.
14
posted on
09/02/2002 4:25:25 PM PDT
by
maxwellp
To: knighthawk
"French President Jacques Chirac will urge world leaders to launch talks on a new international tax" Chirac and the UN can bite me...MUD
To: Thebaddog
"Where does all the money go already for the fight against poverty? How about a little good old fashioned accounting with real numbers that add up." Yep...then prosecute and imprison the Effete Elite Whore'd that steals from the mouths of the poor to fund their own lavish lifestyles!!
FReegards...MUD
To: knighthawk
Interesting. Where is this Pim Fortuyn forum? I'd like to check it out.
To: Citizen of the Savage Nation
To: Mudboy Slim
The UN out of NY and into France!
To: knighthawk
Yep...I'm looking for a bumper sticker that says,
"Get the UN Outta the US and the US Outta the UN!!" I'm just tired of their krap and it's getting worse, not better!!
FReegards...MUD
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