Before Drudge readers start scanning the sky for the black helicopters of UN tax collectors, let us quickly explain the misleading fallacy of this headline: UN seeks tax on oil to create $750 billion ‘Green New Deal’…
Just to make it clear, the UN cannot, will not, and has no interest in imposing a tax — on oil, or anything else — for member states. Again: the United Nations cannot tax and has no intention of taxing any country.
The comments of the head of the UN Environmental Program (UNEP) in the Reuters article in question — which is actually titled “$750 billion “green” investment could revive economy: U.N.” — are simply a suggestion of what individual countries could decide to do on their own to both green the economy and get it going again. The recommendations of UNEP’s report, moreover, include such sensible policy options as investing in energy efficient buildings, improving public transportation, and bolstering nature protection provisions. Not, come to think of it, too far off from what the stimulus bill here in the United States is already seeking to implement.
(image of UNEP Executive Director Achim Steiner)