News

May 29, 2023

Tax Justice Around the World #2 | Highlights from GATJ members

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This week, in Africa GATJ members and partners celebrated the Africa Liberation Day, while in Latin America members launched a free online course on fiscal citizenship. 

See all highlights from the GATJ members around the world:

Africa

On 19 May, Tax Justice Network Africa (TJNA) attended the inaugural caucus meeting in Madagascar, as part of their work with the African Parliamentary Network on Illicit Financial Flows and Taxation (APNIFFT), which is a flagship programme coordinated by TJNA and aims to provide a comprehensive platform for African legislators. Madagascar is the first African island to respond to the call to position parliamentarians at the forefront of resource mobilisation, thus the first to launch an APNIFFT caucus.

The meeting is the opportunity to help local legislators to “engage and collaboratively chart a course of action on combating illicit financial flows and promoting domestic resource mobilisation in Madagascar”. Read more here.

Besides, from 22 to 24 May, TJNA led a series of meetings in Johannesburg (South Africa) on the enhancement of the anti-illicit financial flows (IFFs) policy tracker, developed by the network. The main agenda was to refine the tracking tool and the methodology for the tracker to ensure it reaches its primary goal: monitor the implementation of national-level policies to curb IFFs in Africa. Learn more about it on TJNA’s website.

On 25 May, Africa Liberation Day celebrated 60 years since the creation of the African Union (AU), which started as the Organization of African Unity with the vision of promoting “an integrated, prosperous and peaceful Africa”. GATJ members and partners shared their solidarity messages, including Riska Koopman, global policy advocacy and campaigns coordinator at GATJ, and Dr. Khanyisile Litchfield-Tshabalala, chairperson of APNIFFT. Read their messages here.

Latin America and the Caribbean

Red de Justicia Fiscal de América Latina y el Caribe (RJFALC) secretary general Adrián Falco shared an article in which he debunks myths involving fiscal policies in Argentina.  He explores measures that the State can implement to fight tax abuse, and the main challenges of taxing the digital economy.

This is part of the initiative “Tax myths: a guide to dispute ideas on fiscal subjects”, which was released on 23 May and gathers the answers of several tax experts about ten myths. Learn more about this and the other nine myths on the guide’s website, available in Spanish.

RJFALC member Latinddad released a new report developed in partnership with Afrodad about the levels of debt in countries of the Global South, issuing a warning about the consequences the most vulnerable people may end up facing.

The study was conducted in Latin America, Africa and Asia. It analyses the debt composition and associated risks, and proposes global policies to transform the international financial architecture into a more equitable one. Download the report on Latindadd’s website.

In Brazil, Inesc launched with Instituto Justiça Fiscal (IJF) and RJFALC a free course on fiscal citizenship. Those interested can find more information on how to sign up on RJFALC’s Twitter until 30 May.

Europe

During the webinar “Rebranding or reshaping the global financial architecture?” on 23 May, Eurodad’s director Jean-Letitia Saldanha raised concerns about three of the major proposals to reform the global financial architecture: the World Bank’s Evolution Roadmap, the Bridgetown Initiative and the New Global Financial Pact.

According to Saldanha, none of the proposals have any input from civil society organisations, which were consulted only after the proposals were finalised. She also highlighted they do not address issues like corporate tax dodging, capital flight and unfair trade and investment rules.

Saldanha also remembered how Global North keeps failing to meet their funding commitments. For example, G7 owes low and middle-income countries $13,3 trillion in unpaid funding and aid they promised to fight climate change.

Check more details about the discussions in the webinar on Eurodad’s Twitter.

North America

In the context of the Alberta state elections this year, Canadians for Tax Fairness (C4TF) shared the candidates’ proposals related to tax. Check them out in C4TF’s Twitter.