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Brazil, France propose int'l tax on arms sales to eliminate world hunger
World NetDaily ^ | June 3, 2003 | staff writer

Posted on 06/03/2003 7:45:50 AM PDT by yankeedame

THE POWER TO DESTROY
Global tax on guns?

Brazil, France propose international levy on arms sales to eliminate world hunger

© 2003 WorldNetDaily.com

Some world leaders at the G8 summit meeting are floating the idea of a global tax on arms sales, including – at French President Jacques Chirac's suggestion – a tax on gun purchases by individuals.

In a speech at the annual meeting of the "Group of Eight," or G8, Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva pushed the arms-sales tax as a scheme whereby the world's wealthiest nations could fund efforts to eliminate world hunger, reports Bloomberg News.

The "Group of Eight" includes the U.S., U.K., France, Germany, Italy, Canada, Japan and Russia.

Citing the Brazilian paper Folha de S. Paulo, Bloomberg reports Lula said such taxes would create "a global fund capable of giving food to those who are hungry and for creating the conditions to end the causes of hunger."

Calling the Brazilian leader's proposal "forceful and convincing," Chirac was reluctant to back a levy on weapons manufacturers in France and elsewhere, but suggested a global tax on firearms purchases made by individuals, said the report.

"Lula's idea is a simple one. People must be able to eat three times a day, and that is not the case today," Chirac added, according to Agence France-Presse. "This unacceptable situation must be debated."

Lula's speech containing the controversial proposal came after a meeting of leaders of 12 developing countries with the G-8. The Brazilian leader also suggested wealthy creditor nations could donate part of the debt payments they receive back into a global fund to relieve hunger.

Chirac later said the proposed tax on arms sales might serve as an alternative to the "Tobin tax," which has been floated previously as a possible global tax on currency transactions, according to a CNSNews.com report. "Perhaps a tax on the sale of weapons would be quite justified," Chirac said, according to CNSNews.com. "I'm very much in favor of studying this proposal. For the time being, that's all he's asked. There's lots of trade in weapons, and there's no doubt whatsoever that this trade attracts everyone's concern."

The very thought of a global tax on arms sales and possibly even on individual gun purchases is like walking on glass to many, who feel doubly threatened by a global tax and by another encroachment on private gun-ownership. Although many in public policy positions might downplay such concerns as overblown or even paranoid, global bodies do have a long, if rarely reported, history of trying to foster various sorts of international gun bans.

As far back as Sept. 24, 1999, U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan called on members of the Security Council to "tackle one of the key challenges in preventing conflict in the next century" – the proliferation and "easy availability" of small arms and light weapons, which Annan identified as the "primary tools of violence" in conflicts throughout the world. (Though the terms tend to be used interchangeably, the United Nations defines small arms as weapons designed for personal use, while light weapons are those designed for several persons operating as a crew. Together, they account for virtually every kind of firearm from revolvers, pistols, rifles, carbines and light machine guns all the way to heavy machine guns, grenade launchers, portable anti-aircraft and anti-tank guns, mortars up to 100 mm caliber, and land mines.)

"Even in societies not beset by civil war, the easy availability of small arms has in many cases contributed to violence and political instability," said Annan at that time. "Controlling that easy availability is a prerequisite for a successful peace-building process."

Talk is one thing, but the Security Council then unanimously adopted the "Report of the Group of Governmental Experts on Small Arms." The 26-member group's various recommendations, two dozen in all, add up to a comprehensive program for worldwide gun control, and call for a total ban on private ownership of "assault rifles." A few of the recommendations:

All small arms and light weapons which are not under legal civilian possession and which are not required for the purposes of national defense and internal security, should be collected and destroyed by States as expeditiously as possible.

All States should determine in their national laws and regulations which arms are permitted for civilian possession and the conditions under which they can be used.

All States should ensure that they have in place adequate laws, regulations and administrative procedures to exercise effective control over the legal possession of small arms and light weapons and over their transfer in order ... to prevent illicit trafficking.

States are encouraged to integrate measures to control ammunition ... into prevention and reduction measures relating to small arms and light weapons.

States should work toward ... appropriate national legislation, regulations and licensing requirements that define conditions under which firearms can be acquired, used and traded by private persons. In particular, they should consider the prohibition of unrestricted trade and private ownership of small arms and light weapons specifically designed for military purposes, such as automatic guns (e.g., assault rifles and machine-guns). The report notes with approval countries like China that have enacted measures to "strengthen legal or regulatory controls." China reported that some 300,000 "illicit" guns were seized and destroyed by officials acting in response to "new and more stringent national regulations that have come into force ... on the control on guns within the country and on arms exports."

France, too, in 1998 "acted to reinforce governmental control over military and civilian arms and ammunition, and introduced more rigorous measures regulating the holding of arms by civilians."

A State Department official, requesting anonymity, has previously told WND "the United Nations will not dictate domestic gun control for any nation. They can make recommendations and nations can act on those recommendations as they see fit, but we will never have the United Nations telling countries what they should do."

Questioned about specific recommendations, he replied, "Those are just recommendations – and surprisingly, a number of countries, including the U.S., take them up on those recommendations. In fact, we support all 24 of those recommendations."


TOPICS: Front Page News; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: banglist; food; guncontrol; hunger; lightweapons; secondamendment; smallarms; unitednations; weasels
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1 posted on 06/03/2003 7:45:51 AM PDT by yankeedame
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To: yankeedame
you end hunger by ending socialism...
2 posted on 06/03/2003 7:48:02 AM PDT by Nat Turner
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To: yankeedame
France & Brasil want to propose a TAX on Me here in my own country?
This Good Old USA better wake up! And fast!
3 posted on 06/03/2003 7:48:09 AM PDT by chachacha
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To: yankeedame
Lula's speech containing the controversial proposal came after a meeting of leaders of 12 developing countries with the G-8. The Brazilian leader also suggested wealthy creditor nations could donate part of the debt payments they receive back into a global fund to relieve hunger.

Cum-bye-ya alert.

4 posted on 06/03/2003 7:48:42 AM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum (Drug prohibition laws help support terrorism.)
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To: yankeedame
How about a tax on stinky cheese ?
5 posted on 06/03/2003 7:49:04 AM PDT by Eric in the Ozarks
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To: Joe Brower; bang_list; Travis McGee; Squantos; Noumenon
This could be the point at which things get out of habnd.
6 posted on 06/03/2003 7:50:49 AM PDT by harpseal (Stay well - Stay safe - Stay armed - Yorktown)
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To: Nat Turner
You end hunger by ending socialism.........

Amen! All the money in the world won't end world hunger.

7 posted on 06/03/2003 7:52:30 AM PDT by umgud (gov't has more money than it needs, but never as much as it wants)
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To: yankeedame
Questioned about specific recommendations, he [an unnamed State Department official] replied, "Those are just recommendations – and surprisingly, a number of countries, including the U.S., take them up on those recommendations. In fact, we support all 24 of those recommendations."

Can we please fire all state department employees and officials, tear down the state department building, and plow the site with salt, now ?

8 posted on 06/03/2003 7:54:53 AM PDT by kaylar (Amrozi (Bali bombing suspect) said: "Terrorism is ordered by Allah. That's in the Koran.")
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To: Nat Turner
We're already trying to end hunger, Mr. Chirac. All you need to do is stop your obstructioneering. We already produce the food. All you need to do is quit convincing African leaders that American food is dangerous. Now, please shut up and be quiet until we tell you to speak.
9 posted on 06/03/2003 8:04:19 AM PDT by dufekin (Peace HAS COME AT LONG LAST to the tortured people of Iraq!)
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To: AAABEST; wku man; SLB; Travis McGee; Squantos; harpseal; Shooter 2.5; The Old Hoosier; xrp; ...

10 posted on 06/03/2003 8:05:24 AM PDT by Joe Brower ("The world is weary of statesmen whom democracy has degraded into politicians." -- Ben Desraeli)
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To: yankeedame
Chirac was reluctant to back a levy on weapons manufacturers in France and elsewhere, but suggested a global tax on firearms purchases made by individuals,

LOL! The President of the World, Jackie Chiracky, has spoken. Lets tax the sh*t out of other countries, but only those taxes that wont cost France anything. In particular, lets weaken the US as much as possible, while allowing France a free ride.

And if everyone just nods their head and does nothing, so what? Its just such a pleasure to be able to talk, talk , talk and show the World your generous (albeit disengenuous) heart.

11 posted on 06/03/2003 8:05:25 AM PDT by Nonstatist
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To: Eric in the Ozarks
Maybe we could tax stupidity. There seems to be no end of it.
12 posted on 06/03/2003 8:07:30 AM PDT by Blood of Tyrants (Even if the government took all your earnings, you wouldn’t be, in its eyes, a slave.)
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To: Blood of Tyrants
Maybe we could tax stupidity. There seems to be no end of it.

We do. State lotteries.

13 posted on 06/03/2003 8:12:31 AM PDT by George Smiley (Is it still a right if you have to get the government's permission before you can exercise it?)
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To: harpseal
Criminals, Terrorists , Politicians (all basicly from the same cut of cloth IMHO ) do not pay taxes, never will pay taxes and if said tax is imposed it ain't about arms control it's about one more source of revenue for polidiots to waste on some bullsh*t and shineola third world bunch of losers that exist for just such a free handout.

Damn these POS Socialists !

Stay Safe Harpseal.....hope your days are easy brother !

14 posted on 06/03/2003 8:14:17 AM PDT by Squantos (Cum catapultae proscriptae erunt tum soli proscript catapultas habebunt.)
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To: yankeedame
Calling the Brazilian leader's proposal "forceful and convincing," Chirac was reluctant to back a levy on weapons manufacturers in France and elsewhere, but suggested a global tax on firearms purchases made by individuals, said the report.

While we're at it, let's tax wine and cheese to help defray the costs of increasing automobile deaths because of drunkeness in developed countries and to defray the costs of overweight cheese eating individuals in develped countries. The rich producers should pay for the harm they do to Americans.

15 posted on 06/03/2003 8:16:27 AM PDT by LoneRangerMassachusetts
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To: yankeedame
What Sort of Hat Are You? ."The Euros and their ... fin de siècle ( French: “end of the century” ) of, relating to, characteristic of, or resembling the late 19th-century literary and artistic climate of sophistication, escapism, extreme aestheticism, world-weariness, and fashionable despair

16 posted on 06/03/2003 8:18:28 AM PDT by Helms (Dems Find Smoking Gun: 45-55 Loss in Senate, Bush Wins 2nd Term)
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To: *bang_list
Yet more international gun control, proposed by socialists and affecting you.
17 posted on 06/03/2003 8:20:15 AM PDT by coloradan
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To: kaylar
Can we please fire all state department employees and officials, tear down the state department building, and plow the site with salt, now ?

Can we proceed on a show of hands? You've got my vote. I'll even gladly chip in a truck load of Morton's.

he [an unnamed State Department official] replied,

What say you, Mr. Bush? Does he speak for you or can we count on you to take (un)names?

18 posted on 06/03/2003 8:25:45 AM PDT by LTCJ
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To: yankeedame
G8 Leaders May Consider Global Arms Tax
By Mike Wendling
CNSNews.com London Bureau Chief
June 02, 2003

Evian, France (CNSNews.com) - A global tax on weapons to fund anti-hunger programs has been suggested by Brazil's president, and at least one G8 leader - French President Jacques Chirac - supports looking into the idea.

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio da Silva proposed the arms levy as one of a number of plans at a meeting with developing world leaders on the sidelines of the main G8 summit Sunday.

Chirac later said that such a tax could be an alternative to the so-called "Tobin tax," a proposed but never implemented international levy on currency transactions.

"Perhaps a tax on the sale of weapons would be quite justified," Chirac said. "I'm very much in favor of studying this proposal. For the time being, that's all he's asked.

"There's lots of trade in weapons, and there's no doubt whatsoever that this trade attracts everyone's concern," he said.

Da Silva didn't give further details about the tax, how it would be administered or what kind of weapons it would cover. But Lee Feinstein, a fellow at the Washington-based Council on Foreign Relations and a former U.S. State Department official, cast doubt on the viability of such a levy.

"The arms trade has been greatly diminished in recent years," he said by phone on Monday.

Feinstein said the tax would provide the "wrong incentive."

"You wouldn't want humanitarian aid to be dependent on arms sales," he said. "In general, I would be very skeptical about these kinds of things."

Send a Letter to the Editor about this article.



This appears to be the CNSNews.com report referenced in the article.

19 posted on 06/03/2003 8:28:14 AM PDT by Constitutionalist Conservative (http://c-pol.com)
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To: yankeedame
Calling the Brazilian leader's proposal "forceful and convincing," Chirac was reluctant to back a levy on weapons manufacturers in France and elsewhere, but suggested a global tax on firearms purchases made by individuals

Proof that Chirac is a moron. The two taxes are obviously the same.

20 posted on 06/03/2003 8:35:25 AM PDT by The Old Hoosier (Right makes might.)
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