Countries advance on the next step towards a United Nations Framework Convention on International Tax Cooperation, beginning a historic two-year process to fix the global tax rules. The Global Alliance for Tax Justice applauds this promising start to the formal intergovernmental negotiations.

New York City, February 6, 2025 – “Our global tax system is broken. Because multinational corporations and the wealthy are able to take advantage of dysfunctional and obsolete global tax rules, billions are lost to tax abuse. This is money that could and should be used to provide sustainable financing for public services, development, climate action, and more. In today’s outcome, countries move one step closer to fixing this through a UN Tax Convention. Despite the divergence on the decision making modalities, all UN Member States, with the exception of the U.S., have agreed to remain at the negotiating table. This is a significant outcome to celebrate. Now, countries must continue working together to produce a robust Framework Convention,” said Dereje Alemayehu, Executive Coordinator of the Global Alliance for Tax Justice (GATJ). 

This week finalised the organizational session for the negotiations of a new United Nations Framework Convention on International Tax Cooperation (UN Tax Convention), a process which is set to deliver three legally binding agreements by mid-2027: a Framework Convention and two early protocols. The first early protocol covers taxation of income derived from the provision of cross-border services in an increasingly digitised and globalised economy and the second was confirmed today. The negotiations took place at the UN Headquarters in New York and ran from the 3rd to the 6th of February. 

Today, countries agreed to have a simple majority in the decision making negotiating the substance of the Framework Convention, in line with the modalities of the UNGA. Countries also agreed on prevention and resolution of tax disputes as the second protocol.  The substantive matters under the two early protocols will be decided by a 2/3 majority. Modalities for the participation of civil society and other stakeholders were also agreed upon. 

On Monday, following a session in which Member States were delivering opening statements, the U.S. delegation announced its withdrawal from the process and walked out of the negotiations. The withdrawal had no impact on the negotiations. 

Commenting upon the U.S. withdrawal and final decision-making modalities, Tove Maria Ryding, Tax Coordinator at the European Network on Debt and Development (Eurodad) and a member of the Coordinating Committee of the Global Alliance for Tax Justice, said, “With the strong rejections that the U.S. is showing towards international cooperation at the moment, including of the UN Tax Convention, it was clear that consensus decision-making was not an option, since this could have allowed one country to prevent everybody else from moving forward. With that in mind, it was very odd to see a number of European countries continue to call for consensus decision-making. Despite this unhelpful behavior, it is good to see the work on the UN Tax Convention moving forward so well, and the scene is set for the negotiation of a fair, effective, inclusive, and ambitious UN Framework Convention on Tax.”

Everlyn Muendo, Policy Officer, Tax and International Financial Architecture, Tax Justice Network Africa, member of the Global Alliance for Tax Justice, commented, “We commend the spirit of cooperation that kicks these negotiations off to a great start. Again, as emphasized by the African Group several times during the negotiations this week, inclusive international tax cooperation is not only to the benefit of developing countries but also developed countries. In these trying times of multilateralism, we must all strive to work together to advance this important agenda.”

Jeannie Manipon, Co-Coordinator of the Tax and Fiscal Justice Asia (TAFJA), and member of the Coordinating Committee of the Global Alliance for Tax Justice, said, “There is reason to be optimistic that the negotiations will stay on track despite intensified threats against multilateralism. The successful conclusion of this round of negotiations could be attributed to strong leadership and Member States’ shared recognition of the profound enormity of the issues that the UN Tax Convention must urgently address and the mandate that the General Assembly has given them.  And that is, to fix the flaws of an outdated international tax architecture. This architecture has produced and exacerbated inequalities within and between countries. We congratulate the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee and call on them to stay the course.” 

Luis Moreno, Chair of the Coordinating Committee of the Global Alliance of Tax Justice and member of Red de Justicia Fiscal de América Latina y el Caribe, commented, “The decisions at the UN represent a victory for the Global South and all countries which lose billions to tax abuse by multinational corporations and wealthy individuals. Today’s outcome reinforces the UN Tax Convention’s essence and objective to establish global tax rules that are fair, just, effective, transparent and inclusive. This is critical if we want to mobilize domestic resources to finance public policies that work to ensure development, achieve human rights, close gender gaps, and combat the impacts of climate change.”

Ends

For more resources:

• For further information about what has happened in the negotiations and the importance of this process, read GATJ’s post here.
• GATJ’s reaction to the U.S. withdrawal from the negotiations can be found here.
• The negotiations can be found on UN Web TV here.
• More details on the logistics of the negotiations can be found on the UN website here.

Contact: 

Alexandra Wenzel,  Global Communications Coordinator, GATJ [email protected], WhatsApp +41 778133732

About GATJ:

The Global Alliance for Tax Justice (GATJ) is a South-led global coalition in the tax justice movement. Together we work for a world where progressive and redistributive tax policies counteract inequalities within and between countries, and generate the public funding needed to ensure essential services and human rights.

Created in 2013, GATJ comprises regional tax justice networks in Asia (Tax & Fiscal Justice Asia), Africa (Tax Justice Network Africa), Latin America (Red de Justicia Fiscal de América Latina y el Caribe), Europe (Tax Justice-Europe) and North America (Canadians for Tax Fairness & FACT Coalition), collectively representing hundreds of organisations. GATJ co-coordinates the Tax justice Workstream of the CS FfD Mechanism.