Anti-tax groups ask Congress to stop paying OECD

(CNS):  A group of activists campaigning for lower taxes in the US have written to the American congress asking the, to cut the USD100m taxpayer subsidy paid to the Organization for Economic and Cooperation Development (OECD) because of what they claim is the agency's opposition to tax competition. In a letter released this week the Coalition for Tax Competition said they had “long been disturbed” about what they said was the OECD’s  'harmful tax competition' project that seeks to hinder the flow of jobs and capital to low-tax nations.

The authors of the letter which include representatives from Americans for Tax Reform, Americans for Prosperity, the Sovereign Society, the Center for Financial Privacy and Human Rights and the National Tax Limitation Committee, wrote that the United States is the world's biggest beneficiary of international capital flows and tax competition and described the contribution made by the AUS government from the public funds to the OECD as “the height of folly.”

Signed by 16 people from various think tanks and taxpayer organizations the letter also criticises the OECD for its trend in supporting certain domestic policies such as 'stimulus' spending, cap-and-trade regulation, and a value-added tax in the US, which the authors say means the US taxpayers are subsidizing further advocacy for bigger government and higher taxes which they claim are against their own interests.

“US taxpayers should not be funding an organization which works against their interests by promoting 'a statist agenda,” the letter states.

Andrew Quinlan, President of the Center for Freedom and Prosperity and Coordinator for the Coalition for Tax Competition argued that OECD bureaucrats have lived a fat and happy life using the US taxpayer dime. Meanwhile, Dan Mitchell from the Cato Institute said that the OECD is “in love with higher taxes,” and called for the US government to stop sending US taxpayer dollars to the Paris and keep it at home.

See letter here