Chirac proposes international tax to fight AIDS
French President Jacques Chirac called for an “experimental” international tax to help fund the war against AIDS, suggesting it could be raised via a levy on airline tickets, some fuels or financial transactions.
I bet he does. This is one of those few literal “over my dead body” things. Of course, we’ll be vilified for not signing on to this stupid idea but that’s life.
And what is it about AIDS? Why have a special tax for something that is completely preventable? Why not Cancer or something that is not preventable?
We can end the spread of AIDS tomorrow.* And the solution isn’t an international tax.
*Yes in the western world — But I really don’t want to hear about ignorant people in third world counties either… Dirty water kills more people than anything else on earth. If we want to help the third world, we’ll take all that money on AIDS education and spend it cleaning water.
I do not want to hear about cheese eating surrender monkeys and how they want us to behave. Tax themselves! Stay out of America. Go to Africa tax them.
If you can’t lead with your pocketbook – as the US has done with a long term commitment to AIDS funding in Africa – you call for a tax.
That’s the French way.
Damn, I meant to make that point and forgot lawhawk. thanks
Paul,
You’re welcome.
It is bad enough that people I elect choose to spend my money unwisely, why would I want to turn my money over to people that aren’t elected.
How would the French have reacted if we had called for a tax on them to cover our costs of keeping them from having learn German and Russian all those years? France must have hundreds of francs on white flags alone! Like you pointed out, dirty water kills more people than aids, so do mosquitos and dictators that get support and weapons from the French kill a good number of people too.
He’s targeted AIDs, because you can film a dramatic scene of thousands of victims (the orphaned children) where you can’t do the same with a disease like cancer.
It’s all about him getting his greasy greedy hands in the pockets outside of his own personal domain.
I’ve got a better suggestion, let’s take up a donation and buy him lots of new rope.
F Chirac–and I know just where, and by whom. Now that I’d pay to see!
This infuriates me. For all the reasons presently stated and more.
I’m telling you if Bush even hints at entertaining this scheme I will have lost all confidence in him and his administration.
I’m on the verge of that now as a daily stream of moronic moves comes dribbling out of this white house.
The guest worker program is asinine and a kick in the groin to every immigrant who played by the rules and stood in line.
Paying pundits with tax payer dollars to preach the benefits of his administrations policies is near impeachable.
But most of all…not bringing the hammer down in Iraq. Turning it into a war fought by politicians. In essence ignoring the lessons of Vietnam……and getting our soldiers needlessly killed……
I’m losing my patients with Bush.
He bites on this Chirac Charade and he’s lost my support.
I’m telling you if Bush even hints at entertaining this scheme…
More likely he finds the scheme entertaining.
“Chirac wants to do what!? Hey, Condi, come into the Oval, you gotta hear this, it’s hysterical!”
Delightful idea!
Move to amend to append some clear oversights:
– Pay for the protection provided by the American Military.
– Pay for the lost revenue due to patent-breaking efforts against the American pharmaceutical industry. (Part of why Canadian drugs are cheaper for instance)
– Pay Boeing an equivalent to the Airbus subsidies.
– Credit countries for humanitarian efforts – both ‘in kind’ and monetary.
As likely as a tax on cheese and whine.
In the spirit of renewed transatlantic cooperation, I propose a tax on imported French wines and smelly cheese to fund his boondoggle.
Thank you for your comment. Next tIme please read the post before you reply. Moderator.
Whats so preventable about keeping your penis out of a hole?
I say, tax the French language! Tax the color blue! Tax lavendar plants! Perfume!
~!~
Oh, Henry just gave me another idea! Tax the penis!! Oh, yeah, THAT will bring the French around to their senses. At least, Chirac.
Let’s not judge a nation based on the actions of it’s current leader. History shows that France has been a great American ally. We are forever in their debt for their help at Yorktown just as they will forever be in ours for Normandy.
Viva La France. Chirac est une bêtise.
Wow, an international tax on a disease that killed 18,017 people in the US in 2003 (source).
That works out to be over $177,000 per death in tax money based on the presidents current 3.2 billion dollar AIDS package. With an exposure for non IV drug/homosexual activity being around 32%, that death total is 5780 per year, in other words, for each HIV related death due to normal accepted behavior (non IV drugs and butt pirating) the US is coughing up over a half a million in research funding already.
Looking at this chart HIV/AIDs is at the bottom with respect to the other major causes of death here in the US.
I couldn’t agree more that the money would be much better served researching something that has a greater impact, like cancer or heart disease.
Aids Tax – france, most of europe & africa and the arabs. Everyone with aids is sent to france. france will be required to provide all research, hospitals, medical staff, mortuarys, etc.
there is nothing in the article about how the money will be spent. but then, we pretty much know how it will be spent, if not where exactly and in whose pockets the money will go. nice tax boost there, Jacques. and you get to look like you strong-armed the world into going along with you, or prevailed with your French sensibility.
my favorite part of the article? “Two years ago Chirac also raised the possibility of an international tax to help the fight against AIDS, but gave few details, while he has several times extolled the idea to help combat the negative effects of globalisation.” hasn’t come very far with this one, has he?
Tax the penis!! Oh, yeah, THAT will bring the French around to their senses. At least, Chirac.
Not if it’s taxed by the inch. Maybe by the millimeter…
(What — a guy can’t be bitchy now and then?)
…to borrow a line from Harlem Nights:
Chirac can kiss my *EN-tire* ass.
Why have a special tax for something that is completely preventable?
I think at this point it has passed the stage of “completely preventable.” If Africa a good deal of the people with AIDs are born with it, not given it after bad sexual decisions. The only way for it to be preventable at this point is for half the population to just refuse to have sex and refuse to procreate. I don’t know if that is an alright solution.
Bill tell me why it’s not completely preventable?
I read it twice, but I must have missed that part.
The tax on financial transactions is called the Tobin Tax after the Nobel Laureate who first proposed it. Big winner in leftie circles.
Tax airline tickets? Most European countries already do.
Tax aviation fuel? Probably a good idea actually, as there are pollution effects that are externalities.
However, that tax should go to national treasuries, not some vaguely defined international project.
Basic rule of taxation, no hypothecation. There is absolutely no connection whatsoever between the amount of money one can raise by taxing one activity and the amount of money you want to spend to fix another problem.
Governments have to tax, so do that in the most efficient and least distorting manner. There are problems that govts have to spend to solve (what they are, how many of them and whether govt does this efficiently is the very stuff of politics of course,) but, as above, the amount of money that it is efficient to raise by taking financial transactions, say, has nothing to do with how much money to spend on AIDs reduction.
No dedicated taxes, ever.
Okay, Paul, save letting everybody that has AIDs die, how is is completely preventable?
Bill you seem to be confusing curing with preventing.
Paul, how is AIDs preventable if not by not having sex? And, if not having sex is the prevention to allude to, how is, “letting everybody that has AIDS die” not exactly what you mean?
sigh
Bill- I still don’t know what to make of you. Sometimes you have a brain then other times– the liberalism wins.
At the risk of pointing out something that should be completely obvious, they don’t have to stop having sex… Just stop having it with non-infected people… And you know what Bill- If having sex puts the other person at risk of dying then (oh my gosh) they can keep the damn thing zipped up. Life sucks. No pun intended.
And you try to make this big dramatic statement “letting everybody that has AIDS die”
I have news for you Bill. THERE IS NOT CURE! It is not a case of “letting” them die. We can’t save them if we wanted to.
Grow up man.
For God’s sake, BillK: AIDs, and the HIvirus are preventable in that they are CONTRACTED conditions, ACQUIRED as to method of infection.
You ACQUIRE a particular virus by exposure of a particular kind to someone who is already infected. Or, at least, people do.
People also can avoid exposure. It is not compulsory or inevitable or a course of aging or life itself to acquire HIV, and, HIV is only acquired through behavior. Ergo, acquiring HIV is preventable.
These are just basic definitions and yet you attempt to rationalize these nearly ordinary definitions through a clouded, rationalizing social spin. You don’t WANT it to be preventable because it implies, as it does, that those who have acquired HIV made poor choices. At least questionable choices. It implies that those infected engaged in behaviors that resulted in a bad outcome about which they bear a behavioral responsibllity, and you don’t appear to be able to confront that.
It’s just terminology, it’s not morality, to a great degree, to define certain important things, among which is HIV, which is ACQUIRED, which means, unless someone is comatose, unable to reason clearly or otherwise lacks competency to manage their own behavior, then there exists an implied responsibility in the behavior that is chosen that results in someone acquiring HIV. Meaning, again and again, because it is acquired through behaviors, it is preventable.
If someone approaches sexual behavior as a compulsion, however — considers any choice involved by anyone in any sexual act as being beyond any one individual’s ability to control and/or modify — then, within that context, whoever acquired HIV could be considered to be mentally incompetent and not held “morally” responsible, but, for the average human being, HIV is acquired through selective behaviors. Ergo, it is preventable, unless someone is incompetent and lacks capacity to modify and select behaviors.