GATJ statement: 8 March 2018

On International Women’s Day, 8 March 2018, please join the Global Alliance for Tax Justice in calling for tax justice to advance women’s rights and economic equality.

Call on your government to:

  • Recognize tax as a feminist issue and raise domestic revenue to invest in the gender-responsive public services, social protections, and infrastructure required to fulfill the human rights of all women and achieve gender equality.
  • Raise taxes through progressive and gender-just policies and practices, with emphasis on direct taxation of income, wealth, and high net worth individuals, and ensure that multinational corporations pay their share.
  • Practice gender budgeting to ensure that tax revenues are raised and spent in ways that promote gender equality; reform tax laws so that they do not discriminate against women; and, uphold the right of all women to have an equal say in how public money is spent.
  • Carry out tax impact assessments by gender to identify the direct and indirect effects of taxes, paying attention to the impacts of both taxes and public spending on the poorest women.
  • Ensure that national and regional tax and financial secrecy policies neither contribute to large-scale tax abuse nor reduce public resources available to realize women’s rights in other countries.
  • End harmful tax practices, illicit financial flows and regressive reforms to the global tax system that facilitate tax avoidance and are biased towards wealthy countries, corporations, and the rich elite.
  • Support the establishment of an inclusive intergovernmental UN Global Tax Commission where all countries have a seat at the table and equal say in determining international tax rules.

The world will not be able to achieve women and girl’s rights, gender equality or the Sustainable Development Goals without taking action for tax justice. Your organization is invited to sign on to the Bogota Declaration on Tax Justice for Women’s Rights via this link.

*See related resources at www.globaltaxjustice.org

Art by Favianna Rodriguez