Tax is a matter of life or death

PSI General Secretary Rosa Pavanelli, spoke at the Debate and Policy Dialogue to Expand the Debate on Tax Reform, hosted by ICRICT in partnership with the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung in Addis Abeba, just before the Financing for Development Conference (FFD3) took off on Monday 13 July. The ICRICT members called for the adoption of an intergovernmental tax body as part of the Financing for Development agenda.

"Tax is too important to be decided in small clubs. We need an intergovernmental tax body, within the UN, to ensure solutions and assist development in a democratic and transparent environment where all interests are represented and all voices heard", said Rosa Pavanelli in the FFD3 Roundtable on tax justice

When it comes to funding sustainable development, tax is perhaps the most critical piece of the puzzle, yet our system of taxing global profits is inadequate for our globalized economy, disadvantages the poorest countries, and has no globally representative coordinating body. In order to tackle the larger challenges of poverty eradication, inequality and sustainable development, reform of this outdated system is imperative.

ICRICT is a group of public intellectuals from around the world who believe that, at this moment in history, there is both an urgent need and an unprecedented opportunity to bring about significant reform of the international corporate taxation system. The Commission’s recent groundbreaking report calls for major changes in our system of taxing global profits.

Other speakers included: José Antonio OCAMPO, ICRICT Chairperson, Former UN Under-Secretary-General, Joseph E. STIGLITZ, Nobel Prize-winning Economist, Pascal SAINT-AMANS, OECD Centre for Tax Policy and Administration, Winnie BYANYIMA, Executive Director, Oxfam, Adriano CAMPOLINA, Chief Executive, ActionAid, Eva JOLY, Member of the European Parliament, Rev. Suzanne MATALE, General-Secretary, World Council of Churches, Zambia, Manuel MONTES, Senior Adviser, The South Centre, Léonce NDIKUMANA, Professor of Economics, University of Amherst and Corina RODRÍGUEZ ENRÍQUEZ, Women’s Working Group on FFD

For more information on PSI's activities at the FFD3 see:

• The CSO FfD Forum Joint Statement
• The side-event report: Tax Justice for Social Justice
• The side-event report: How can the private sector have a positive impact on sustainable development?
• The side event report: Mission Impossible: Development without public services
• PSI General Secretary, Rosa Pavanelli, statement to the Round table on tax justice
• PSI Regional Secretary, Jocelio Drummond, statement to the round table on trade
• The ICRICT event Tax is a matter of life or death
• PSI's work on the Post-2015 Development Agenda
• See the statement signed by 150 organisations on private sector participation in the implementation of Post-2015 Sustainable Development Agenda
• PSI's Briefing on the FfD process
• PSI's Briefing on the SDG and Post 2015 Development Agenda process
• The UN website to find out about the Post-2015 Development Agenda
• The UN website on Financing for Development (FFD3)
• The CSOs for FFD3 website