[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 128 (Tuesday, November 14, 2006)]
[Senate]
[Pages S10925-S10926]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. INHOFE:
  S. 4048. A bill to prohibit Federal funding for the Organisation for 
Economic Co-operation and Development; to the Committee on Banking, 
Housing, and Urban Affairs.
  Mr. INHOFE. Mr. President, the Paris-based Organisation for Economic 
Cooperation and Development, which receives 25 percent of its budget 
from the U.S., has used U.S. taxpayer money in turn to encourage and 
support higher taxes on the U.S. taxpayer, in addition to its support 
of U.N. global tax schemes.
  The OECD has endorsed and encouraged higher taxes, new taxes, and 
global taxes no fewer than 24 times in reports with titles such as 
``Towards Global Tax Cooperation,'' in which the OECD identifies 35 
nations guilty of ``harmful tax competition.''

[[Page S10926]]

  They have advocated that the U.S. adopt a costly and bureaucratic 
value added tax, a 40-cent increase in the gas tax, a carbon tax, a 
fertilizer tax, ending the deductibility of State and local taxes from 
Federal taxes, new taxes at the State level, and a host of other new 
and innovative taxes on U.S. citizens.
  It is not only the recommending of higher taxes which concerns us; 
the ultimate concern is the movement towards undermining U.S. 
sovereignty. Ecogroups such as the Friends of the Earth want the OECD 
to declare that dam-building for flood control and electronic power is 
unacceptable as ``sustainable energy.'' In May, 2005 the OECD ministers 
endorsed a proposal at the U.N. to create a system of global taxes.
  The OECD has stated explicitly that low-tax policies ``unfairly erode 
the tax bases of other countries and distort the location of capital 
and services.'' What we have here are Paris-based bureaucrats seeking 
to protect high-tax welfare states from the free market.
  That is why the OECD goes on to say that free-market tax competition 
``may hamper the application of progressive tax rates and the 
achievement of redistributive goals.'' Clearly, free market tax 
competition makes it harder to implement socialistic welfare states. 
The free market evidently hasn't been fair to socialistic welfare 
states. Well, it's a good thing that they have the OECD and nearly $100 
million in U.S. taxpayer money to protect them.
  Noted economist Walter Williams clearly sees the direction in which 
this is headed when he says that ``the bottom line agenda for the OECD 
is to establish a tax cartel where nations get together and collude on 
taxes.'' Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill seconded that when he said 
that he was ``troubled by the underlying premise that low tax rates are 
somehow suspect and by the notion that any country should interfere in 
any other country's'' tax policy. And John Bolton argues that the 
OECD's approach ``represents a kind of worldwide centralization of 
governments and interest groups.'' Who do you think bears the costs for 
all this? Mr. Bolton answers and you probably guessed it--the United 
States.
  America's proud history of independence was driven in no small part 
by the desire for sovereignty over taxation powers. In this context, it 
makes no sense to relegate our sovereignty over tax policy, in any way, 
to international bureaucrats.
  It is very simple. U.S. taxpayers are being forced to fund a bunch of 
international bureaucrats who write, speak, organize, and advocate in 
support of higher taxes, global taxes, and the gradual erosion of 
American sovereignty over its domestic fiscal policies. I think that 
most Americans would be outraged to learn that they are forced to 
subsidize these types of activities with their tax dollars. I think 
that they shouldn't have to any longer. That's why I am introducing 
legislation today to remove the United State's contributions to the 
OECD. I ask you to join me in doing so, as the following individuals 
and their respective organizations have joined in helping us to combat 
un-American policies emanating from the OECD in the past: Andrew F. 
Quinlan, President, Center for Freedom and Prosperity Foundation; 
Daniel J. Mitchell, Senior Fellow, The Heritage Foundation; Veronique 
de Rugy, Research Fellow, American Enterprise Institute; John Berthoud, 
President, National Taxpayers Union; Grover Norquist, President. 
Americans for Tax Reform; Tom Giovanetti, President, Institute for 
Policy Innovation; Karen Kerrigan, President and CEO, Small Business 
and Entrepreneurship Council; Doug Bandow, Vice President of Policy, 
Citizen Outreach; Roland Boucher, Chairman, United Californians for Tax 
Reform; Daniel Clifton, Executive Director, American Shareholders 
Association; Rick Durham, President, Tennessee Tax Revolt, Inc.; 
Richard Falknor, Executive Vice President, Maryland Taxpayers 
Association; Kerri Houston, Vice President of Policy, Frontiers of 
Freedom; David A. Keene, Chairman, American Conservative Union; Matt 
Kibbe, President and CEO, FreedomWorks; Thomas P. Kilgannon, President, 
Freedom Alliance; Michelle Korsmo, Vice President, Americans for 
Prosperity Foundation; Charles W. Jarvis, Chairman, USA Next; James L. 
Martin, President, 60 Plus Association; Chuck Muth, President, Citizen 
Outreach; Karl Peterjohn, Executive Director, Kansas Taxpayers Network; 
George Pieler, Senior Fellow, Institute for Policy Innovation; John 
Pugsley, Chairman, The Sovereign Society; Don Racheter, President, 
Public Interest Institute; Amy Ridenour, President, The National Center 
for Public Policy Research; Terrence Scanlon, President, Capital 
Research Center; Thomas Schatz, President, Council for Citizens Against 
Government Waste; Bill Sizemore, Executive Director, Oregon Taxpayers 
United; David M. Stanley, Chairman, Iowans for Tax Relief; David M 
Strom, President, Taxpayers League of Minnesota; Henry L. Thaxton, 
Director, West Virginians Against Government Waste; Pat Toomey, 
President, Club for Growth; Lewis K. Uhler, President, National Tax 
Limitation Committee; and Paul M. Weyrich, National Chairman, 
Coalitions for America.
                                 ______