Around 500 people took the streets of Manila on March 6th calling for greater gender equality. The march was organized by the Asian Peoples’ Movement on Debt and Development, member of the Tax and Fiscal Justice Asia, and Oriang, as part of the Make Taxes Work for Women campaign.
The mobilization aimed to protest against the abusive corporate tax policies that continue to allow illicit financial flows to reduce the public budget from the country. “The current government has made reforms in the country’s tax policies that facillitate harmful practices”, said Joy Hernandez, Asia Campaigns & Policy Coordinator at GATJ. “The citizens went to the streets against these governmental decisions and are calling for more spending on social services.”
About Make Taxes Work for Women
Together with its regional members and partners, the Global Alliance for Tax Justice organizes every year the Make Taxes Work for Women campaign to advocate for the maximization of public budget through fair and progressive taxation in order to fund gender-responsive public services and social protection systems. In 2020, we celebrate the 4th edition of the campaign and announce it will be a continuous initiative to ensure that tax justice becomes an integral part of the fight for women’s rights and gender equality.
Our demands
1. Stop illicit financial flows and harmful tax practices that facilitate tax avoidance and evasion and are biased towards wealthy countries and multinational corporations
2. Reduce unfair tax burdens on women and adopt progressive and gender just taxation
3. Remove gender bias and discrimination in tax policies and laws
4. Ensure tax and fiscal policies recognise and serve to represent, reduce and redistribute unpaid care work
5. Increase allocation of tax revenues for gender responsive social services
