COP6 plans for tax guidelines censured
Writing in the Town Hall, the columnist, Daniel J. Mitchell, asks today why the World Health Organization isn’t focusing solely on things such as Ebola and SARS, rather than engaging in ideological campaigns to expand the size and scope of government.
Mitchell says that under the ‘leadership’ of the UN’s WHO, hundreds of bureaucrats have descended on Moscow for the sixth Conference of the Parties (COP6) to WHO’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control.
‘But this isn’t the usual junket,’ he explains. ‘The bureaucrats are pushing to create “guidelines” for tobacco taxation. Most notably, they want excise taxes to be at least 70 per cent of the cost of a pack of cigarettes.
‘I’m not a smoker and never have been, but this is offensive for several reasons.’
Mitchell then goes on to mention that the policy would enable bigger government, promote criminal activity and erode national sovereignty.