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November 10, 2023

Make Multinationals Pay Their Share, Rewrite Global Tax Rules

This Thursday (9 November), the Global Alliance for Tax Justice (GATJ) started the international conference “Tax and extractives: Make multinational corporations pay their share, rewrite global tax rules” – organised together with its regional networks Tax and Fiscal Justice Asia (TAFJA) and Canadians for Tax Fairness (C4TF), and member Asian Peoples’ Movement on Debt and Development (APMDD). Taking place in Manila (Philippines), the three-day event is part of the commemoration activities of the 10th anniversary of GATJ and will gather members of the alliance’s regional network in Asia, which include civil society organisations and activists.  

“Forming GATJ was a hard struggle and effort, because we wanted the alliance to be representative of the voices of the Global South, especially grassroots movements. One of our missions was to make sure that tax justice advocacy is not just an arena of experts but also social movements,” recalled Lidy Nacpil, coordinator of APMDD, in her keynote speech. “As we commemorate the 10 years of the alliance, we also celebrate our contributions as a Southern-led global coalition to the achievements of the broader tax justice movement,” said Dereje Alemayahu, executive coordinator of GATJ. 

The conference is an opportunity to strategise mobilisation and coordination of struggles for tax justice, exploring the linkages between the local, regional and global level calls of the movement. The discussions will focus on the demands of two of the main campaigns of the alliance: for tax justice in the extractive sector, and for an inclusive and effective international tax cooperation at the United Nations (UN). 

“The political and other forms of violence with which the extractive sector has been associated point out that there must be extremely high stakes in the industry, but it remains shrouded in secrecy when it comes to finances. This highlights the importance of why we come together today,” said Jeannie Manipon, Development Finance programme manager at APMDD and member of GATJ’s coordination committee. 

“We are gathering to strategise our collective work around fixing tax systems so they can counteract inequalities within and between countries. This also requires an inclusive, democratic and transparent reform of global tax rules, which can only happen at the UN. Together we have been calling for a UN tax convention, a first step towards this direction,” said Dennis Howlett, former executive director of C4TF and treasurer of GATJ.