NationStates Jolt Archive

...what this resolution actually does? Excuse me if I'm being thick, but it doesn't seem to actually change anything. It says it would be nice if states taxed people fairly, but just restates their right to tax whatever they want however they want, which they can do anyway. And while I'd like there to be some more 'Furtherment of Democracy' proposals in the UN, shouldn't this be 'Social Justice'? There's quite a lot on fair, equitable distrubution of taxation, and nothing on voting rights.

Just interested. I just ask specifically on this one because I'm sure there will be a mass telegram campagain and a quorum-or-thereabouts support, considering that both a prototype and repeal have been voted on.

http://www.nationstates.net/cgi-bin/index.cgi/37337/page=UN_proposal/start=45

National Rights to Taxation
A resolution to increase democratic freedoms.


Category: The Furtherment of Democracy
Strength: Significant
Proposed by: Powerhungry Chipmunks

Description: The United Nations,

RECOGNIZING the diversity of individual nations’ peoples, cultures, political leanings, governmental systems, and economic situations, and the fundamental need for each person or group of people being able to express those unique characteristics,

SUPPORTING the view of many that democracy and its precepts (fair representation, and political license among them) can both address and categorize these disparate situations, attitudes, and lives more justly than any other system of government,

OBSERVING the substantially fairer representation and greater political license (prerequisites to democracy) that accompany ‘local governance’ (that those most closely involved with and knowledgeable of an issue address it), except on issues in which overarching, external intervention is necessary,

NOTING as impossible for individual citizens, in a member nation, to receive any form of fair representation in taxation decisions made on a UN level,

DETERMINING, in the interest of fair representation and greater democratic freedoms, that taxation of national, domestic activities and products is best dealt with, at highest, national government:

1.ENCOURAGES, MOST STRONGLY member nations to allow citizens the highest degrees of representation regarding the taxes incurred upon them, SUGGESTING nations and citizens soberly scrutinize their respective taxation systems for their effects on economic liberty, social equality, and general service to nations’ peoples;

2.DECLARES and PROTECTS, as inviolable rights of nations, (a) the incurring or non-incurring of taxes on domestic activities, items, and businesses within their national boundaries and (b) the determination of level, type (progressive, flat, etc.) and application of those taxes (who/what is and is not taxed);

3.DEFINES “domestic activities, items, and businesses” as including, but not limited to (a) fees for national postal service, copy fees for national documents, and admissions for national parks or natural recreation activities; (b) taxes placed upon businesses which engage in strictly intra-national trade, and items and services which are made and sold strictly within a nation; and (c) subsidies and tax credits given to farmers which sell their crops strictly within the nation and to government workers;

4.ALLOWS that member nations may voluntarily relinquish all or part of their rights to determining their taxation systems to local, region, and international groups (such as an international economic alliance) if a member nation so decides;

5.URGES that nations use this right to tax their peoples with responsibility, and, most importantly, with consent and approval from the people who are taxed, NOTING that unjust governments are often punished economically, politically, and militarily by other governments as well as by those whom they oppress.

...what this resolution actually does? Excuse me if I'm being thick, but it doesn't seem to actually change anything. It says it would be nice if states taxed people fairly, but just restates their right to tax whatever they want however they want, which they can do anyway. And while I'd like there to be some more 'Furtherment of Democracy' proposals in the UN, shouldn't this be 'Social Justice'? There's quite a lot on fair, equitable distrubution of taxation, and nothing on voting rights.

Just interested. I just ask specifically on this one because I'm sure there will be a mass telegram campagain and a quorum-or-thereabouts support, considering that both a prototype and repeal have been voted on.

http://www.nationstates.net/cgi-bin/index.cgi/37337/page=UN_proposal/start=45

It protects each nation's right to determine their own system of taxation and suggests that nations determine this in line with the principal of democratic consent. What exactly seems unclear to you?

And nations certainly already have the freedom to determine their own system of taxation (unless you account for the fact that normal compliance with all UN resolutions would require a large tax of some kind on the citizenry just to come up with sufficient funding for all those educational, healthcare, and environmental programs), but certainly you understand that the concept of guaranteeing rights works even when there is nothing stopping anyone from exercising that right. For example, in most UN nations homosexuals are allowed the same marital privileges as any other person, but the membership still saw fit to protect their right to do so several times in various ways.

Minister of UN Affairs
Edward Jones

Thanks for that lucid explanation. I guess there's a precedent, which is the nuclear arms law. But then again, because that didn't actually change anything, merely restate options, it was 'Mild' strength. *shrugs*

It's good to see stuff in the 'Furtherment of Democracy' category anyhow.

Thanks for that lucid explanation. I guess there's a precedent, which is the nuclear arms law. But then again, because that didn't actually change anything, merely restate options, it was 'Mild' strength. *shrugs*

It's good to see stuff in the 'Furtherment of Democracy' category anyhow.
Technically the precident was set by the now repealed National Systems of Tax.

Bob Flibble
UN Representative

Just interested. I just ask specifically on this one because I'm sure there will be a mass telegram campagain and a quorum-or-thereabouts support, considering that both a prototype and repeal have been voted on.

Well, eventually there will be, but not today. In fact, I might put this through the proposal list several times before telegramming for it, as I'm not 100% sure about everything in it. I think that generally I have the gist of what I want in it, which is why I submitted it (to prime the proposal list fr a proposal of such a type), but, again, there are certain possibilities and writing decisions I'm still running through in my head. I'll post this up in the NSO (today if I have the time), so I can get even more feedback. I probably won't post it here until ir reaches quorum (for a discussion thread).

Actually, as of late, NSO feedback has seemed to me among the best anywhere. But perhaps that's just personal bias against the sometimes barbed UN forum, And my personal bias in favor of the NSO. ;)

It's better than 'National Systems of Tax'. I just think that maybe there should be proper material carrots and sticks to encourage the kind of tax systems you want. Maybe the UN could publish an annual report into the statistics of each member nations' taxation policies - % of GDP, distribution among social classes, progressive vs regressive taxation methods - maybe even come up with something like a 'progressive taxation index' algorythm, like organisations currently rate the freedom and openness of societies on a similar scale, so that citizens can see how their nation is doing and how it compares to others.

It's better than 'National Systems of Tax'. I just think that maybe there should be proper material carrots and sticks to encourage the kind of tax systems you want. Maybe the UN could publish an annual report into the statistics of each member nations' taxation policies - % of GDP, distribution among social classes, progressive vs regressive taxation methods - maybe even come up with something like a 'progressive taxation index' algorythm, like organisations currently rate the freedom and openness of societies on a similar scale, so that citizens can see how their nation is doing and how it compares to others.

The daily UN Rankings already provide an adequate means of measuring a nation's progress relative to issues of social and economic equality.

Minister of UN Affairs
Edward Jones