Its total population is 200,000, mostly Christian as a result of 19 th- century missionary activity, with the natives employed mainly in subsistence farming. But that s not the real driving force behind the attack. It s the US government that is most worried. Washington is awash in the loot we call taxes, with federal revenue soaring to unexpected heights. The reason is the economic boom.
More income means more income taxes.
Higher stock prices means more taxes from capital gains. More spending means more excise tax payments. But somehow it s never enough. Bureaucrats in DC can t sleep at night for imagining the trickles of cash that are escaping their clutches and being banked in independent Vanuatu. Incredibly, the cartel of governments called the OECD is threatening trade sanctions against this poor country unless it changes its tax and banking laws.