Justicia fiscal en el sector extractivo

Multinational corporations in the extractives sector (i.e. metals and mineral mining, oil, gas, and coal) have disastrous impacts on people’s rights and sustainable development. These companies generate massive profits while many avoid taxes and get tax breaks in the form of subsidies. Loopholes created by outdated and broken international tax rules and `race-to-the-bottom’ competition between governments have allowed these multinational companies to shift their profits from the countries where they are extracting resources to tax havens where they pay zero or very low tax. This deprives countries of any benefits from their natural resources and of the revenues needed to fund public services and meet the needs of their citizens. 

GATJ members call for environmental tax justice through:

  • Transparency in all stages of the extractive process (e.g., exploration, contract negotiations, extraction, production, transport), and for the publication of all contracts and agreements entered into by governments for the exploitation of natural resources
  • Revenues from extractive industries to be allocated to affected communities and sectors and for communities to be compensated for loss and damage caused by these industries
  • The rights of communities and women affected by mining and other extractive activities to be upheld, and the rights of mining workers with regard to core standards of the International Labour Organisation, including the right to organise and strike
  • The implementation of environmental justice principles including the polluter pays principle and common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities (CBDR+RC)

Campaign activities

GATJ stands in solidarity with the long-standing national, regional, and global movements against large-scale extractive projects and their egregious impacts. Highlighting the tax justice dimension of this extraction is GATJ’s contribution to the broader fight `to stop the plunder’ of the Global South. The first Global Days of Action for Tax Justice in the Extractives were held in November 2019 and have since become an annual event.