Development Finance & Tax Justice - Archive

The BEPS Monitoring Group, a network of specialists concerned with the effects of international taxation on development and the reform of the international system for the taxation of transnational corporations, has recently published their General Evaluation of the BEPS Project outputs. While acknowledging the importance of the results as a first step towards a better taxation system, the report highlights a range of shortcomings. The proposals do not suggest treating multinational enterprises as a single firm, instead they emphasize the [...]

Barbara Adams, with the Global Policy Forum, talked about the money the U.S. contributes to the United Nations and how that amount compares to contributions by other countries. She also discussed the efficiency of U.N. programs. This program was part of C-SPAN’s “Your Money” series. Each Monday morning the last hour of “Washington Journal” is devoted to a federal program, focusing on its mission, participants, and cost.

More than 40 European NGOs write to their respective Ministers of Finance and to the European Commission to call for a strong outcome of the upcoming EU negotiations on public country by country reporting for multinational corporations under the Shareholders Rights Directive. Ending the secrecy surrounding the tax payments and economic activities of multinational corporations is a crucial step towards re-establishing public trust in our tax system. By requiring multinational corporations to report publicly on key financial data on a [...]

In its meeting yesterday, 10 September 2015, the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted principles for a fair resolution of debt crises. The majority of member states voted in favor of the principles, with only 41 countries abstaining and 6 voting against the proposal. Although this outcome falls behind expectations for the creation of a global State insolvency regime, civil society organizations like erlassjahr.de, the German counterpart of the international Jubilee Debt campaign, welcomed the adoption of the principles.

Dear Ambassador,

On September 10th the international community must take an important step towards better prevention and resolution of sovereign debt crises. Adoption of the UN General Assembly Resolution “Basic Principles on Sovereign Debt Restructuring Processes” would be a milestone towards ensuring that debt crises can be tackled in a timely, orderly, effective and fair manner. As a Europe-wide and international coalition of civil society organisations working on debt justice, we urge you to vote in favour of this Resolution [...]

A new discussion paper by the German Institute for Economic Research analyzes the top tail of the wealth distribution in Germany, France, Spain, and Greece based on the Household Finance and Consumption Survey (HFCS). Since top wealth is likely to be underrepresented in household surveys the authors integrate the big fortunes from rich lists, estimate a Pareto distribution, and impute the missing rich. Instead of the Forbes the study we mainly relys on national rich lists since they represent a [...]

Just ten days after the UN’s International Conference on Financing for Development, and just in time for the endorsement of the new sustainable development agenda, a UN Committee has agreed on a set of principles to guide further sovereign debt restructuring processes. The new UN principles were inspired by the devastating bank bailouts in Greece, and by the vulture fund lawsuits that Argentina faced at US courts. They build on preparatory work done by an expert group convened by the [...]

"The Addis Ababa Action Agenda is widely seen as a major disappointment for developing countries as well as others hoping for adequate means of implementation to realise national development ambitions and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It has become clear that the South, including the least developed countries, should not expect any serious progress to the almost half century old commitment to transfer 0.7 percent of developed countries’ economic output to developing countries. But to add insult to injury, developing [...]

A new briefing paper from Global Policy Watch (an initiative of Social Watch and Global Policy Forum) highlights the key role that the Global Financing Facility (GFF) is to expected to play as a financing vehicle for Goal #3 of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), that of: “Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages.” Similar to the Global Fund or GAVI (the Vaccine Alliance), the GFF will specifically finance reproductive, maternal, newborn, child and adolescent health [...]

The European Commission has issued its new action plan entitled A fairer corporate tax system in the EU today. Europe’s trade unions support a fairer and more efficient corporate tax regime addressing tax avoidance which is robbing societies of billions of Euros to finance public services and social protection and to redistribute wealth and income. But the Commission’s plans lack clear actions.

Malawi, the poorest country in the world, has lost out on US$43 million in revenue over the last six years, from a single company – the Australian mining company Paladin. The money has been lost through a combination of harmful tax incentives from the Malawian government and tax planning using treaty shopping by Paladin. What has happened is not illegal – on the contrary, the combination of tax breaks and tax planning that has resulted in this loss of crucial [...]

During the 3rd official drafting session to formulate an outcome document for the 3rd International Conference on Financing for Development, a coalition of 30 NGOs from around the globe are urging governments to pave the way for setting up an intergovernmental body on tax cooperation with universal membership under the roof of the United Nations. To 'sweeten the deal' for delegates, and to strengthen their resolve, negotiators received a little gift of chocolate, which came right in time just after [...]

The recently published declaration by ICRICT (Independent Commission for the Reform of International Corporate Taxation) argues that the current tax system has become obsolete as a result of globalization and the changing world economy. ICRICT states that an adjustment of the tax system is indispensable and that the efforts by OECD are not sufficient. The commission therefore aims to push governments around the world to take action. The declaration presents a set of principles and recommendations for reform. One key [...]

At their forthcoming summit in Germany, G7 leaders will meet some of their African counterparts to discuss how they can support economic growth and sustainable development in Africa. According to a recent report published by Oxfam International, the continent has enjoyed a recent economic boom but the rich world is reaping the rewards of this growth, as billions of dollars a year flow out of Africa. This is depriving it of vital revenue that could enable it to fund healthcare [...]

Every year, millions of euro worth of minerals flow into the EU from some of the poorest places on earth. No questions are asked about how they are extracted, or how it impacts on local communities. The EU has no legislation in place to ensure companies source their minerals responsibly. The trade in resources – such as gold, diamonds, tantalum, tin, copper and coal – continues to perpetuate a cycle of conflict and human rights abuses in many fragile areas [...]

New Discussion paper for the Civil Society Reflection Group on Global Development Perspectives I March 2015

The Post-2015 Agenda with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as one of its key components is intended to be truly universal and global. This requires a fair sharing of costs, responsibilities and opportunities among and within countries. The principle of »common but differentiated responsibilities« (CBDR) must be applied. Coupled with the human rights principle of equal rights for all and the need to respect [...]

Several European NGOs are urging Jean-Claude Juncker, President oft he European Commission, to step up the ambition level for a comprehensive tax reform package for the EU. Several scandals have recently shaken the continent and shown that EU members are damaging themselves and one another with unfair and divisive tax policies. Furthermore, EU policies and positions are making it difficult for countries in the Global South to raise urgently needed resources to fund the realization of human rights. To this [...]

On January 28-30, 2015, members of Development Alternatives with Women for a New Era (DAWN) attended the First Drafting Session for the outcome document of the third International Conference on Financing forDevelopment (FfD3) at the United Nations Headquarters. As a result, a policy paper by Nicole Bidegain reviews the main elements of the FfD process in order to set current debates in context, identify conflict areas between the different blocks of countries, and introduce some of the recommendations DAWN has [...]

A new report "Unhappy Meal: €1 Billion in Tax Avoidance on the Menu at McDonald's" by EFFAT, EPSU, SEIU and War on Want outlines in detail what the authors call tax avoidance strategies adopted by McDonald’s and their tax impact both throughout Europe and in major markets like France, Italy, Spain and the U.K. The practice, the coalition says, essentially consisted of moving the European headquarters from the UK to Switzerland as well as using intra-group royalty payments and channeling [...]

Despite snowstorm warnings and ice-cold temperatures in New York, the Financing for Development (FfD) negotiations managed to pick up speed when governments convened for the first drafting session at the end of January. They are currently negotiating the outcome of the upcoming Addis Ababa Conference on Financing for Development, which will take place on July 13-16 this year, and is planned as a key milestone ahead of the Post-2015 Summit and the UNFCCC Climate Conference later this year. Tove Maria [...]

"In 2014, we saw yet another repeat of the claim that ‘banking secrecy is over’, as some countries began to commit to a new agreement to share information on money held offshore. But the picture is not consistent: with only 52 countries currently signed up to implementation, and very few of them developing countries, it seems that banking secrecy may be over for some, but not for others. In 2013 we identified the challenges involved in creating a system of [...]

The Center for Economic and Social Rights (CESR) reports about Spain’s failure to protect economic and social rights in times of economic crisis, which has come under stern criticism from other states at the country’s recent Universal Periodic Review (UPR) by the UN Human Rights Council. One after another, Spain’s peers in the community of nations voiced their concern over the erosion of economic and social rights after four years of ill-conceived austerity measures. The gravity of the deprivations evidenced [...]

A very broad international group of Civil Society Organizations has published a critical response to a paper outlining elements of a Financing for Development (FfD) Agenda by the co-chairs of the preparatory process of the upcoming 3rd FfD Conference in Addis Ababa in July 2015. Overall, the CSOs say, the document provides a good starting point for the first drafting sessions and includes most (but not all) of the policy proposals necessary to ensure a successful outcome of the Addis [...]

You are cordially invited to a side-event by the Permanent Mission of Brazil to the UN, CIDSE and Social Watch on Thursday, January 29, 2015 in the UN Conference Building, New York. Dealing with responsibilities in a financing sustainable development context, this event seeks to generate discussion on conceptual challenges such as an evenhanded approach to the three pillars of sustainable development, adapting a framework like the Financing for Development process to the universal agenda of the Sustainable Development Goals [...]

The economic valuation of nature has now been debated for several years, having already been implicit in the Kyoto Protocol that set targets for greenhouse gas emissions and provided the framework for trading CO2 equivalents. The role of nature in models to measure prosperity and of market-based instruments in nature conservation was discussed at a conference organised by the Heinrich Böll Foundation, Global Policy Forum and terre des hommes in Bonn, Germany, in November. Presentations and discussions at the conference [...]