[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 96 (Thursday, June 14, 2007)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7742-S7743]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. INHOFE (for himself, Mr. Nelson of Nebraska, Ms. Snowe, 
        Mr. Stevens, Mr. Bunning, Mr. Crapo, Mr. Craig, Mr. Kyl, Mr. 
        Ensign, Mr. Coburn, Mr. Shelby, Mr. Chambliss, Mrs. Hutchison, 
        Mr. Vitter, Mr. Sessions, Mr. Thune, Mr. Bond, Mr. Cochran, Mr. 
        Burr, Mrs. Dole, and Mr. Allard):
  S. 1623. A bill to require the withholding of United States 
contributions to the United Nations until the President certifies that 
the United Nations is not engaged in global taxation schemes; to the 
Committee on Foreign Relations.
  Mr. INHOFE. Mr. President, today I introduce S. 1623. I introduce 
this bill to prevent the imposition of global taxes on the United 
States. The current efforts of the United Nations and other 
international organizations are to develop and advocate a type of tax 
system that will keep them from having to answer to anybody.
  Last year, I introduced legislation, S. 3633, which garnered the 
support of 31 cosponsors, and I am pleased to reintroduce this bill 
today with 23 cosponsors.
  This bill states if the United Nations or other international 
organizations continue to pursue global taxation, the United States 
will withhold 20 percent of the assessed contributions to the regular 
budget of these organizations. This measure will last until 
certification is given by the President to the Congress that no 
international organization has legal taxation authority in the United 
States, that no taxes or fees have been imposed on the United States, 
and that no taxes have been proposed by any of these international 
organizations.
  One has to wonder sometimes what has happened to sovereignty in 
America. There are people in this body who don't think anything is good 
unless it is somehow proposed by some international organization, and 
quite often the interests of international organizations are not the 
same interests of our Nation. Our Government's primary leverage with 
the United Nations is controlling the flow of our regular 
contributions. By collecting enormous and global taxes on top of our 
regular contributions, the United Nations, or any other of these 
international organizations, would be accountable to no one. The United 
Nations' abuse of international trust, rampant corruption, and 
widespread waste are now all well-known. Allowing this clearly 
dysfunctional institution to extract U.S. dollars is absurd. Permitting 
this would

[[Page S7743]]

condone the U.N.'s long sought-after goal of a U.N.-led global 
governance--something not in the best interest of the United States.
  The United States already pays 27 percent of the U.N. Peacekeeping 
budget and 22 percent of the regular U.N. dues and special assessments, 
the majority of which our Government tracks very poorly. To further 
loosen the reins on the United Nations would be disastrous. We can't 
allow this to happen.
  It is fascinating to watch the various things that are not in the 
best interests of this country and the fact that we are paying for 25 
percent of that. This is a way we would be able to inject into this 
system something that would be far better and would take care of just 
the sovereignty of the United States; those things that are in our best 
interests and not just in the best interests of some international 
organization.
                                 ______