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Funding Global Governance Financing A Safer World You may agree with the ideas proposed on this site. You may think they are politically attainable, as the ICC was. But how will it all be paid for? The UN budget is, in reality, very modest in relation to the tasks it is expected to undertake. To put it in perspective, the UN budget is roughly equivalent to that of the city of Stockholm. Peace campaigners regularly compare the UN budget to military spending – a single B2 bomber costs more. World federalists are more concerned with the practical problem of fiscal liquidity that the UN faces when Member States do not pay their dues. In 1999 the UN faced near bankruptcy when it was owed a total of $1.8 billion in contributions from national governments. Some governments have tried to force the UN to adopt or abandon specific policies before continuing payment, a practice that would by-pass the decision-making mechanisms of the UN that runs on majority or consensus. How can the UN ever guarantee global peace and security when it is regularly close to bankruptcy? Representation without taxation? Another key goal of our organisation is to see some elements of global democracy introduced into the UN. We believe the history of the American Revolution demonstrates a connection between taxation and representation. If the UN’s finances were based on forms of more financial dues paid by ordinary citizens, we believe they would be more likely to demand a say in the running of the UN. An idea gathering momentum… Nobel Prize winning economist, James Tobin suggested a series of taxes for raising funds for international causes. He suggested three options: •
A tax on international aviation – air fuel is currently not
taxed, does environmental damage and targets the richer of the world’s
population
If it can happen with the ICC, why not the Tobin Tax?
Links Stamp
Out Poverty George
Monbiot's book, 'The Age of Consent'
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