On September 15, 2023 GI-ESCR was invited to speak at the first event convened by the newly established Platform for Taxation in Latin America and the Caribbean. The Platform was the outcome of the Latin American and Caribbean Summit for an Inclusive, Sustainable and Equitable Global Tax Order, which GI-ESCR and its partners actively contributed to.

This first activity was a webinar to explore How to improve the inclusion and effectiveness of international cooperation in tax matters? A proposal from the global South.

Background:

On December 30, 2022, the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), through Resolution 77/244, agreed to begin intergovernmental discussions at the United Nations Headquarters in New York to explore ways to improve the inclusion and effectiveness of international cooperation in tax matters. The resolution was for the Secretary-General (SG) of the United Nations to prepare a report outlining what steps could be taken next.

The SG report, issued on July 26 2023, highlights the need to strengthen international cooperation in tax matters and to reform the international tax system to combat tax evasion and avoidance and illicit financial flows, and to build more fair, inclusive and effective tax systems, which are essential to provide States with funds to advance human rights and to address the climate crises.

The SG report points out three (3) different options to initiate these intergovernmental debates, which would strengthen the role of the United Nations in the development of tax norms and the establishment of rules: (a) an international tax convention; (b) a framework convention on international cooperation in taxation; and (c) a framework for international cooperation on tax issues. Since tax authorities, taxpayers and other stakeholders need a high degree of certainty regarding international tax rules, two of the options would provide for binding legal commitments.

The African Union (especially Egypt, Ghana, Nigeria and South Africa) agreed to work on drafting a resolution (which must be put to a vote at the UNGA) that supports some of the options raised in the SG report. Through this meeting, the PTLAC sought to bring together the Latin American and Caribbean region with a united approach towards the next resolution on the topic. This first event of the platform is also the starting point of a joint dialogue between officials of the tax administrations of the PTLAC member countries and their missions to the United Nations as well as with African representatives.

More than 60 experts and practitioners participated in the event. The main speakers included María Fernanda Valdés , Technical Vice Minister of the Ministry of Finance and Public Credit of Colombia, Patrick Ndzana Olomo, Acting Head of the Economic Policy and Sustainability Division of the African Union Commission, Michael Lennard, Head of International Cooperation on Tax and Trade at the United Nations Financing for Development Office (FfDO), Magdalena Sepúlveda, Executive Director of the Global Initiative for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (GI-ESCR), Chenai Mukumba, Executive Director of the Tax Justice Network of Africa (TJN-A); Jorge Murillo , Second Secretary and responsible for economic and financial affairs of the Second Committee of the General Assembly of the Permanent Mission of Colombia to the United Nations; and Daniel Titelman , Director of the Economic Development Division of ECLAC.

The moderator was Natalia Quiñonez,  Advisor to the Minister of Finance and Public Credit of Colombia.