Sometimes you just have to say "No." That applies to young children, pesky used-car salesmen, dogs, and most especially the United Nations. Maybe especially in the case of the United Nations, which mostly seems these days to be a stupid idea factory.
In the most recent episode of "Dumb Ideas From the UN," we see Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who I have to say is probably the most effective SecState of my lifetime, saying "no" to the United Nations' proposed global carbon tax.
Secretary Rubio, along with Secretary of Energy Chris Wright and Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy, recently issued a press release explaining precisely why this is a hard no for the United States. The press release states in part:
President Trump has made it clear that the United States will not accept any international environmental agreement that unduly or unfairly burdens the United States or harms the interests of the American people. Next week, members of the IMO (International Maritime Organization) will vote on the adoption of a so-called NZF aimed at reducing global carbon dioxide gas emissions from the international shipping sector. This will be the first time that a UN organization levies a global carbon tax on the world.
The Administration unequivocally rejects this proposal before the IMO and will not tolerate any action that increases costs for our citizens, energy providers, shipping companies and their customers, or tourists. The economic impacts from this measure could be disastrous, with some estimates forecasting global shipping costs increasing as much as 10% or more. We ask you to join us in rejecting adoption of the NZF at the October meeting and to work together on our collective economic and energy security.
This proposal would place a Net-Zero Framework - an NZF - on the international shipping sector. While we have seen the climate-scold arguments about carbon before, what's new here is the United Nations proposing to levy a tax on the member nations that conduct international shipping. The Wall Street Journal's Editorial Board chimed in on that on Tuesday:
The damage from this U.N. climate tax is as much political as economic. The U.N. has previously toyed with emissions-monitoring schemes, such as for aviation, and the IMO claims this proposal is no different. But this is the first instance we can find of the U.N. claiming the ability to levy a tax—the revenues from which will be paid directly into a U.N.-controlled fund.
For the U.N. system as a whole, roughly 90% of revenue comes from governments. Those capitals at least are responsible to their own taxpayers and also are in a position to impose some accountability on the U.N. if they try. The rest is income generated from U.N. consulting activities or investment returns and exchange-rate movements affecting existing reserves.
The IMO carbon tax on shipping, by contrast, would be paid by ship owners directly into a new “Net Zero Fund” created by the agency. The IMO says this money pot, to be managed by agency staff, would support innovation in green shipping and “reward low-emission ships.”
This is wrong on so many levels, it's difficult to know where to start.
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The best answer, of course, is the one Secretary Rubio puts forth; that message being, to put a point on it, to tell the United Nations precisely where to stick that carbon tax, that being in a place where the sun most assuredly never shines. The United Nations is accountable to no one. No taxpayers or consumers, who will be soaked for this scheme, have any say over what the UN does. The cost of this tax would almost certainly be passed on, in part if not in whole, to the consumers of the shipped goods. Worse, this, unlike President Trump's tariffs, isn't being done by an elected official who is accountable to the voters, and who is primarily using this as a bargaining tool. This is a tax that, like most taxes, will persist into perpetuity, will be administered by unelected bureaucrats in an unaccountable organization, and will do nothing whatsoever to affect the global climate.
So, once again, the United States is in the position of telling the United Nations where to head in, which again makes one wonder why we are still a member of that ineffective organization.
Editor’s Note: The Schumer Shutdown is here. Rather than put the American people first, Chuck Schumer and the radical Democrats forced a government shutdown for healthcare for illegals. They own this.
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