The comment by UN Undersecretary for Human Services Jan Egeland that Americans are under-taxed and stingy is yet another manifestation of the UN’s uglier side. While the organization played a vital role in world affairs more than 50 years ago, today’s UN bears little resemblance to the organization that was founded in 1945. For openers, it appears that the UN has morphed into a partisan organization of countries dedicated to denigrating America and all for which it stands. Egeland’s insensitive comment is yet more evidence that this is the case.Just the facts, mam...
The fact is the United States government and consequently US taxpayers pay approximately 20% of the UN operating budget. America’s contribution to other nations in need of aid in terms of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is right in line with that of most other western democracies. The percentage of GDP that the US devotes to foreign aid is approximately 1/4 of 1%, which is approximately the same percentage of GDP as that paid by Sweden, Norway and Germany. It is somewhat higher than France and substantially higher than the oil-rich Arab states’ contributions. The annual US contribution to needy countries amounts to approximately 40% of all money spent by all the world’s nations on foreign aid.
And note this is coming from a Canadian newspaper...
