Global Policy Forum

By James Paul

1. Global Levy vs. Harmonization
A tax raised by a global institution may appear ideal, but seems distant. Harmonization of national taxes may be closer to realization. What are the pros and cons?

2. Accountability and Oversight
Need for reliable, democratic process to oversee the collection, holding and spending of the funds, as well as an efficient and effective administrative structure.

3. What Institutions?
What institutions would be best, what are most likely candidates to collect and/or spend the funds? IMF, World Bank, the UN, etc., etc.

4. Taxing Bads vs. Goods?
Advantages of taxing things we want to discourage vs. things we want to encourage. Idea of taxes on the environment substituting for taxes on labor. But on revenue side, driving out bads can also shrink taxes to insignificance.

5. US Opposition: How Important? Esp. Impact at the UN
The US Congress has forbidden discussion of global taxes at the UN and has generally opposed such initiatives. How damaging is this opposition and how do we work around it?

6. Advantages of Starting Small?
Taxes like the CTT would produce enormous revenue, thus are very high-profile, pose very large problems of oversight, and stir up major opposition from those who will have to pay the tax. Wouldn't a small tax be a better way to set precedents?

7. Ease/Cost of Administering Tax?
Tax proposals must be evaluated in part by how simple and low-cost they would be to administer. CTTs would seem to be easy. Would carbon taxes be equally simple?

8. Issues of Tax Avoidance
Good taxes must be hard to avoid. Do major proposals meet this test?

9. Revenue vs. Policy Impact
Are there tensions between the revenue and the policy aspects of these taxes? See no. 4 above as an example.

10. Re-Distributive Aspects of Tax Proposals
Many would want to see new tax measures have a progressive (re-distribute) effect on wealth and income. But rich citizens have lots of political clout, so such taxes also produce lots of opposition. Redistribution adds a third element to the proposals.

11. Who are the Main Opponents and How Powerful are They?
The anti-tax lobbies must be identified and their strength assessed.

12. Who are the Main Constituencies to Support these Taxes?
Can we assemble a political block that can prevail in support? Who would be the main forces favoring such taxes and why?