Folks here's one the leading terrorist on this planet.
Niamorkono.
>
>The IMF enslavement of Black Africa
>By Jude Wanniski
>-Guest Columnist-
>Updated Nov 24, 2003, 6:21 pm
>
>(FinalCall.com) - Much can be done to help African
>countries expand their economies internally, in ways
>that don't require handouts from American special
>interests or American taxpayers. Instead of sending
>billions in "aid," send some good advice.
>
>Kenya is a perfect example of a country that has been
>hammered mercilessly by the inflation of the last 32
>years, since President Nixon floated the dollar in
>1971. When I visited Nairobi in 1967, its economy was
>in great shape, and I marveled at the obvious
>prosperity I could see throughout the country. What
>wrecked it were the devaluations of the Kenyan
>shilling and the great inflation that produced.
>
>As it has throughout Africa, the economists at the
>International Monetary Fund (IMF) recommended the
>currency devaluations. The resulting inflation
>dramatically increased the progressivity of the
>income-tax system. The IMF also urged the U.S.
>government to balance its budget by raising tax rates
>even higher, along with the "bracket creep" produced
>by the inflation. The most recent data I have at hand
>indicates the per capita income of Kenya's 29 million
>people is not much above $340.
>
>Now, look at the tax system: On the personal income
>tax, an individual pays a top rate of 30 percent. This
>does not sound that bad, but the taxpayer encounters
>the 30 percent at a threshold of $5,646 (at the
>current exchange rate). The 25 percent rate hits at
>$4,256, the 20 percent rate hits at $2,865.
>
>On top of these debilitating rates, Kenya has an 18
>percent Value Added Tax (VAT). This is because the
>income tax collects so little revenue at these steep
>rates. There is also a raft of taxes faced by business
>and industry, including export duties, import duties,
>stamp duties, fringe-benefit taxes, etc. Local
>businesses pay a 30 percent corporate income tax and
>branches of foreign companies pay at a 37.5 percent
>rate.
>
>All of the taxes together produce $1.9 billion per
>year. That's pocket change to Bill Gates. He could
>easily give Kenya that amount for several years and it
>could operate without a tax system! It would grow like
>crazy.
>
>Then, we have Botswana, a sizeable country of only 1.5
>million. Its "showcase economy" produces 10 times the
>per capita GDP of Kenya's 29 million people. The top
>marginal tax rate is 25 percent, just five points
>lower than Kenya's, but the individual does not pay
>that rate until his taxable income is $21,413. The 20
>percent rate hits at $17,398, the 15 percent rate hits
>at $13,383, the 10 percent rate at $9,368.
>
>The five percent rate hits at $5,353, which is almost
>where the Kenyan pays the marginal rate of 30
>percent!!! And there is no VAT in Botswana. Corporate
>tax rates are 15 percent for manufacturing, 25 percent
>for non-manufacturing. And all of the taxes together
>yield $1.3 billion in revenues! With these much lower
>rates and no VAT, Botswana's government gets almost as
>much revenue from its 1.5 million people as Kenya does
>from its 29 million.
>
>Professional economists who advise the Democratic
>Party, like Dr. Paul Krugman at Princeton and the New
>York Times, will tell you supply-side economics does
>not work. Cutting tax rates only increases budget
>deficits. He might say Botswana is lucky, because it
>has diamond mines that produce lots of revenue. He
>might say that Kenya is poor because its political
>leaders have mismanaged expenditures. George Ayittey,
>a Black African from Ghana who professes economics at
>American University and votes Republican, says
>supply-side economics only works in mature countries
>like the United States and Europe, and the immature
>countries are poor because they have corrupt political
>leaders.
>
>In other words, the tax system is the result of good
>people who shun the temptations of corruption-not the
>cause of a sound economy where people can afford to
>shun corrupt ways because they can support their
>families on their after-tax incomes.
>
>The Wall Street Journal editorial page recently ran an
>op-ed by a Nobel Laureate economist, Douglas North,
>who asked the question: "If there are so many Nobel
>Prizewinning economists, why is there so much
>poverty?" Dr. North summed it up: The corrupt
>politicians in the poor countries do not take the
>economic advice of Nobel Laureates. Can you hear me
>laughing?
>
>Back in July, when all hell was breaking loose in
>Liberia and Pres. George Bush was thinking of sending
>a few divisions of Marines to stop the civil war, I
>wrote a memo to Treasury Secretary John Snow. I
>suggested it might be a lot cheaper if he took a good
>look at the Liberian tax system. The civil war is the
>result of the poverty in Liberia, and the poverty is
>the result of a series of IMF programs of currency
>devaluations and tax increases. The 3.3 million
>Liberians only collected $6.5 million in income-tax
>revenue!!
>
>Nobel Prizewinners are blaming the politicians for the
>miseries of Black Africa-and other parts of the
>impoverished world-because they can't admit to
>themselves that their demand-side economic policies
>have been the CAUSE of the poverty.
>
>
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