Blog – Financial Transparency Coalition

A rights-based, feminist, progressive & decolonial approach to taxation

admin — Wed, 05 Feb 2025 17:41:13 +0000

What is a rights-based, feminist, progressive and decolonial approach to taxation?

Taxation is more than a tool for raising revenue—from a rights-based perspective, it is a powerful mechanism for redistributing wealth, challenging inequalities, correcting discriminatory practices, and realising social, economic and cultural rights. Yet, global tax rules continue to reinforce an unjust economic system, violates the principles of participation and non-discrimination, that is profoundly gendered, extractive, and colonial in nature.

As negotiations for a UN Tax Convention progress and preparations for the Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development (FfD4) take shape, this moment presents a critical opportunity to reimagine tax policy. Our new advocacy brief, developed in collaboration with WEDO, the Financial Transparency Coalition, and Shared Planet, explores how taxation can be progressive, feminist, environmental, and decolonial—advancing justice for people and the planet.

This brief highlights:

• Why tax justice is a feminist, climate, and human rights issue

• How progressive taxation can challenge global inequalities

• Key proposals for taxing wealth, ending corporate tax dodging, and differentiating taxation to tax fossil fuel companies at higher rates to align with the polluter pays principle

• Alternatives to debt-driven solutions for financing development

• Opportunities to advance these demands in the UN Tax Convention & FfD4

See the document here in English

See the document here in Spanish

See the document in French

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Insights from India’s latest Budget-Delving into Nutrition and Women’s Priorities

Holden Healy — Wed, 13 Mar 2024 08:00:55 +0000

Many sectors in India are still grappling with the multi-dimensional impact of COVID-19 pandemic.While the budget focuses largely on infrastructure development to boost growth, there is a need to focus on tackling the inequalities that deepened during the pandemic. This is particularly important given how sectors with long term impact such as education, nutrition, and healthcare among others, were a hard hit.

In the interim budget 2024, there was a need for creating fiscal space to address some of the challenges and disparities. While aspects of this were evident in the Budget, many others need to be addressed through tangible initiatives in the future. We take a quick look at India’s interim Budget 2024, to examine its responsiveness to addressing gender-based needs and challenges, along with aspects related to nutrition and education sectors.to see some aspects of fiscal spending on sectors like gender, nutrition, and education.

This year, fiscal consolidation has been prioritised, containing the deficit at 5.8 per cent for this year, and projecting a further reduction to 5.1 per cent in the next fiscal year. Emphasis on this approach might lead to reduced allocation for social welfare programmes, impacting vulnerable populations and social development. The claimed 50 per cent increase in average real income overlooks the unprecedented circumstances caused by the pandemic, the ensuing economic slowdown, and the already low base year due to these effects.

How gender responsive was the budget?

The overall gender budget indicated in the Gender Budget Statement (GBS) for 2024-25 was nearly 6.5 per cent of the total public expenditure estimated this fiscal, which was higher than the proportion in previous years. Some of the schemes for women in particular are discussed below.

The combined allocation for the rural and urban housing schemes^[1], which mandates that houses given under the scheme are owned by women or jointly with males, constituted 71.8 per cent of the total Part A allocation of the Gender Budget Statement (GBS). (Part A includes schemes with 100% allocation towards women.) This inflates the total gender budget, and thus the actual share that will reduce gender inequalities is lower.

The Lakhpati Didi scheme which aims to empower women within Self Help Groups by enhancing their skills for livelihood intervention, has increased the beneficiary target from 20 to 30 million in term of beneficiaries (two to three crore). However, it’s crucial to evaluate whether it’s effectively supporting these women in attaining long-term empowerment. The recent increase in female labour force participation (reaching 37 per cent in 2022-23 while still below 2020 levels pre-pandemic) also appears to be driven by an increase in self-employment among rural women, specifically in the categories of unpaid helpers and self-employed workers. Apart from these self-employment initiatives, no new targeted interventions can be ascertained in the interim budget to boost women’s employment.

Tracking allocations for individual schemes has been difficult since restructuring of schemes in 2021-22. The overall allocation for Mission Shakti, an umbrella scheme focusing on the safety, security and empowerment of women has remained stagnant, compared to 2023-24 . Low allocations, underutilisation of funds pose challenges to the implementation of schemes for women’s safety.

Nutrition

The initiatives aimed at improving nutritional outcomes, Saksham Anganwadi and POSHAN 2.0 are integrated nutrition support programmes aimed at combating malnutrition among children, adolescent girls, pregnant women, and lactating mothers. They have experienced reductions in funding compared to the revised estimates of the previous year. Funding for these initiatives decreased by 1.77 per cent in real terms when adjusted for inflation. Poshan Tracker launched two years ago, to monitor the program’s progress is a positive effort in improving transparency and efficiency in delivering the program. While using technology for monitoring delivery of services is important, addressing underlying issues requires a more comprehensive approach by prioritizing adequate budgets to enhance the effectiveness of interventions.

The Early Childhood Care and Education-ECCE program, Poshan Bhi Padhai Bhi (Education along with nutrition) launched in 2022 is in alignment with the objectives of the new education policy. This programme offers daily pre-school instruction and nutrition to children under the age of 6 while also developing a network of Anganwadi centres (childcare centers providing services). While providing these services to children for their holistic development, recognition of the anganwadi workers services in operating the centres and delivering the services is essentially is vital to addressing the pressing demands of Anganwadi workers for an honorarium increase. Inadequate compensation can negatively impact these frontline workers’ willingness to perform. Despite their longstanding demand, the budget speech announced extending insurance cover to beneficiaries for hospitalisation and treatment.

While POSHAN-2 emphasises the inclusion of millets and 100 percent fortified rice in the meals component of the program, it remains unclear if these measures adequately tackle concerns about meal quality and dietary diversity. The new guidelines focus primarily on defining roles and responsibilities for duty holders, overlook the necessity of a comprehensive framework with adequate budgets for improving implementation. Despite numerous sensitisation activities, sustaining efforts to promote infant and young child feeding practices remain challenging, due to lack of adequate budget for training Anganwadi workers who play a key role in counseling mothers.

In conclusion, while the increase in size of gender budget is noteworthy, it necessitates an objective evaluation of its effectiveness in mitigating the exacerbated gender inequality in India due to the pandemic. To remedy the situation, we would need to understand what exactly is driving gender inequality in its diverse dimensions. Despite these gaps, some positive aspects in terms of labour market participation are shining light on where things can be improved. The nutrition outcomes that persisted even after the pandemic have not been adequately addressed in terms of the budget allocated for flagship programs like POSHAN and Saksham Anganwadi. One hopes to see a more comprehensive approach to addressing gender equality and nutrition challenges in the full budget to be presented in July.

^[1] The Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) is a government initiative that works towards providing ‘Housing for All by 2024’. PMAY-G will provide houses of 25 sqm to be built under the PMAY-G scheme. The PMAY rural scheme beneficiaries are identified using the Socio-Economic and Caste Census (SECC).

Image by AkshayaPatra Foundation from Pixabay

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Beneficial ownership and climate crimes: A fishy business

Holden Healy — Wed, 06 Sep 2023 17:43:57 +0000

Until now, the tax justice and climate justice movements have mostly tended to operate in isolation from each other, despite having many common goals and objectives.

This is the second in a series of blogs examining underexplored issues at the intersection of tax justice and climate justice. At the heart sits seeking to redress historic and ongoing inequalities in the exploitation of planetary carbon boundaries, and in the unfair distribution of ongoing human costs. Carbon tax justice uses progressive policies to uncover and reduce inequalities, significantly reduce emissions and facilitate a just transition.

In this blog we explore how climate justice and tax justice advocates can unite and demand beneficial ownership transparency for sectors prone to climate crimes.

As the Tax Justice Network has previously noted, the climate crisis and financial secrecy are closely connected. Immense pressure and a set of policies are urgently needed to disincentivise companies from further investing in fossil fuels – but this pressure should not stop at the level of the company. It has to cast a shadow over the beneficial owners of these companies, too. Tax justice principles can help – in particular, beneficial ownership transparency and eventually, a global asset registry. The sooner climate and tax justice activists unite and demand beneficial ownership transparency, the more urgently we can put an end to escalating climate crimes like illicit fishing and logging.

Climate crimes threatening our carbon sinks

Oceans and forests are sometimes referred to as carbon sinks: a natural environment with the ability to absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. They form an important part of the natural carbon cycle.

The ocean generates 50 per cent of the oxygen we need and absorbs 25 percent of all carbon dioxide emissions, while forests absorb nearly a fifth of the CO2 released annually by the burning of fossil fuels. Protecting these carbon sinks is as important as reducing carbon emissions from the burning of fossil fuels.

But our carbon sinks are threatened by climate crimes, including illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing, illicit mining, and illicit logging and forest clearances, all of which are accelerating at a fast pace.

From fish and forests to illicit financial flows

These environmental or ‘climate crimes’ not only threaten the capacity of our carbon sinks to absorb greenhouse gases, they generate profits that result in illicit financial flows: a form of illegal capital flight that occurs when money is illegally earned, transferred, or spent. Illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing alone is estimated to account for up to US$23.5 billion annually in illicit financial flows. West Africa is particularly heavily affected, accounting for US$9.4 billion – 40 per cent – of that. Illegal logging and illegal forest clearances account for between US$52 – US$157 billion annually in terms of illicit financial flows. Between a third to half of the timber trade is estimated to constitute illicit financial flows. Furthermore, crops grown on recently deforested land account for a large share of key agricultural commodities like soy, beef, palm oil and cocoa.

In their study on illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing and illicit financial flows, the Financial Transparency Coalition could only locate beneficial ownership data for 16.7 per cent of the 972 vessels studied. These findings are also reflected at a country level. For example, vessels with licences in Argentina need to be registered at the Argentinian company registry, but they do not need to disclose the ultimate beneficial owner(s). The financial secrecy surrounding the owners of vessels is a key driver of illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing as secrecy makes it harder to catch the ultimate perpetrators. Beneficial ownership information is rarely, if ever, collected during the licensing or vessel registration process, with only information on the legal owner being collected.

In the fishing sector, it is therefore vital to know who owns the fishing vessel in question, including having historical records to know who owned it at the time of an offence. Although private registries like Lloyd’s Shipping Registry do collect this information to some extent for insurance purposes, it is rarely collected by public authorities.

Similar concerns are apparent in the forestry sector, where information on land ownership and ownership of livestock and crops grown on the land are missing, limiting our understanding of both the extent of illicit financial flows, and the beneficial owners who benefit from them. Not too dissimilar from fisheries, in the forestry sector, some data on livestock and crops might be collected for agricultural policy issues and insurance purposes, but not for money laundering or tax purposes, perhaps because their role in terms of illicit financial flows have largely been underestimated. What is needed are better land, livestock and crop registries. To make such registries usable, they need to be publicly accessible and contain a level of detail that would allow them to be used to detect money laundering, tax abuses and other types of illicit financial flows.

Transparency of beneficial ownership

A key driver enabling the perpetuation of climate crimes in the first place is the cloak of secrecy surrounding those ultimately responsible: the owners, funders and general masterminds. They are often able to funnel their illicit profits back to their shareholders in countries where companies linked with illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing are based. This includes China, Colombia, and Spain, where the top 10 companies are based according to a report by the Financial Transparency Coalition.

We need to ensure that beneficial ownership legislation in various countries is truly set out to reveal the real beneficiaries of climate crimes. Fisheries companies for example often use complex corporate structures to hide the real owners of vessels, and can hide behind the 25 per cent threshold for reporting beneficial owners in Europe. All natural resource sectors, including fisheries and forestry, should be defined as high-risk sectors for the purpose of beneficial ownership registries with lower thresholds (or, ideally, no threshold) for reporting of beneficial ownership.

Using a global asset register to link assets to beneficial owners

Linking environmental crimes and public beneficial ownership registries would go a long way in establishing an enabling environment to tackle the environmental and social fallout caused by these illegal activities. The existence of a public beneficial ownership registry on its own, however, is not a sufficient solution to hold those responsible for illicit fishing and logging accountable, including outside the country where activities take place.

By providing a centralised global resource detailing who owns what, and where they own it, a global asset register would provide a means to record, measure, and understand the distribution of global capital, including those assets that enable or perpetuate damage to carbon sinks.

By imposing meaningful transparency on this wealth, a global asset register would not only identify beneficial owners who are extracting natural resources to accumulate personal wealth and power. Alongside other existing transparency mechanisms like the automatic exchange of information and country by country reporting, it would also strike a decisive blow against international organised crime by significantly reducing the opacity that is crucial to the continued functioning of illicit financial flows.

Viewing climate crimes as predicate offences for money laundering

A country’s jurisdiction is generally limited to its own geographical area. One exception lies in the application of anti-money laundering provisions. They give countries more powers to seize assets used in the production of illicit income, or acquired with this illicit income. This makes anti-money laundering provisions a particularly powerful tool in curbing climate crimes.

Money laundering provisions rely heavily on “predicate offences”- in essence, anything illegal that generate the proceeds that are then laundered. Illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing and illicit logging are predicate offences for money laundering – they generate income that somehow needs to be accounted for in mainstream financial systems, in a way that hides their opaque origin. Climate crimes generate precisely this kind of illicit income and should be defined as predicate offences. This would enable the use of anti-money laundering legislation, including extra-territorial accountability for perpetrators and the beneficial owners.

Illicit fishing is for the most part not recognised as a natural resource crime or a predicate offence for money laundering purposes – but it should be. It’s doable: the USA, for instance, was able to successfully freeze a beneficial owner’s assets, and delist it from the Nasdaq, after the Financial Transparency Coalition ranked it as the biggest global culprit in illicit fishing.

Conclusion

Tax justice and financial transparency activists have lobbied for a number of measures that would go a long way in curbing natural resource crimes. These include linking offenders on the ground to those who ultimately profit, through beneficial ownership registers and global asset registers; and being able to pursue offenders across jurisdictions by classifying natural resource crimes as predicated offences for money laundering purposes. These measures are key to combatting illicit financial flows related to natural resources – including fisheries, forestry and mining-related crimes and abuses.

Defining income from natural resource crimes as illicit financial flows, and consequently as predicate offences for money laundering opens up avenues to advocate for public beneficial ownership registries in source, transit and destination jurisdictions. Countering natural resource crimes requires public access to beneficial ownership registries, and would enable holding those responsible, accountable.

Achieving carbon tax justice is possible. We can start by holding to account those profiting most from the climate crisis. But to do so, we need transparency.

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Financial transparency and tax justice: Five key trends in 2023

Holden Healy — Fri, 13 Jan 2023 07:00:21 +0000

The year 2023 is going to be crucial for financial transparency and tax justice, as countries around the world desperately seek funds amid multiple crises, whist grappling with the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Many global South countries face sovereign debt defaults that will lead them to apply for International Monetary Fund (IMF) loan programmes which are often linked to austerity policies.

Progressive fiscal policy shifts and further advancing financial transparency are absolutely crucial to generate enough resources to reduce the impact of the multiple crises especially among the poor who are often women and minority groups. If we do not tackle financial transparency, kleptocrats and actors engaged in natural resource crimes will not be caught, and billions of dollars in hidden funds will continue to be stolen. But progress is tremendously slow in these areas, and advances that we make are easily lost amid endless legal challenges.

So what are the five main trends to look ahead in 2023 which could help countries face the multiple current funding crises they are facing? Let us take a look:

Fighting growing austerity

In 2023 more than ever before we are told that we have run out of money, and that the only way to restore public finances is by cutting public spending and raising consumption-related taxes. In total, 94 nations in the global South are due to cut public spending in 2023, while 85% of the world population will live with public spending cuts and other austerity measures.

Meanwhile COVID-19 recovery spending in the global South only reached 2.4% of GDP, a fifth of what was recommended by the UN, and much of the money did not go to those most impacted by the pandemic. As we revealed in the “Recovery at a Crossroads” report launched in September 2022 at the #EndAusterity Festival, only 4% of the funds spent in global South countries went to informal workers, who often represents the majority of the workforce and is largely made up of female workers, whilst 38% went to big corporations. Only 38% of funds went to vital social protection programmes that are key to reduce growing gender and economic inequalities.

In contrast, global North countries spent upwards of 10% of GDP in COVID recovery, and many have long-term recovery spending plans including the EU’s Recovery and Resilience Facility worth over €800bn focusing on green and digital Recovery which will continue into 2026. Meanwhile the US has its Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) spending worth $739bn going until 2032. In the global South, only Chile is likely to continue long-term support policies into 2023 and beyond with a fiscal reform package to tax large corporates and the wealthy. So the big question is whether other global South countries will follow Chile’s path. Yet, there are barriers from this taking place, such as the IMF policy advice, which is often part of loan conditions, recommending to maintain tight fiscal policies due to increasing inflation.

In 2023 we at the FTC will closely monitor initiatives to redress this imbalance especially in the global South, such as the Fiscal Pact for Latin America and the Caribbean proposed by the governments of Colombia and Chile where a key meeting is expected this year to tackle illicit financial flows, and tax abuses in Latin America, pushing also for global solutions. In the Caribbean region, the Bridgetown Initiative led by Prime Minister Mia Mottley of Barbados will seek to reform the World Bank and the IMF to provide more international financing without austerity conditionalities.

International tax deals and the UN

In November 2022, the UN took a historical step to start negotiations on the UN role on tax governance that could possibly lead to a UN Tax Commission. It builds on the ECA declaration of African finance ministers in May 2022, calling for the start of negotiations on a UN tax convention. This step is important as ongoing negotiations at the OECD have not led to significant gains for global South countries in mobilising more revenue by taxing the profits of large multinational companies. These countries including Argentina, Brazil, India, Kenya, Pakistan, Nigeria and Indonesia may even end up losing revenue if they forego existing digital taxes that have a wider scope and a clearer basis for allocating revenue to them, so a lot is at play.

In December 2022, a budget for the tax resolution was recommended to be approved, paving the way then for UN Secretary-General António Guterres to produce a report detailing the options moving ahead. Mr Guterres has already pledged his office’s support to this process, and so by the next General Assembly we can expect an evaluation of the main options and modalities for negotiations to begin.

The resolution was sponsored by the Africa Group in the UN, the wider G77 group of global South countries, and the signatories of the LAC Fiscal Pact may wish to widen its scope. Civil society will make its impact by creating widened support for this initiative, highlighting how little revenue is collected in the global South and will monitor the negotiations at each stage to defend the interests of the global South.

Public beneficial ownership registries and corporate transparency in Europe

The European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruling invalidated public access to beneficial ownership registries in December 2022 which represented a major step backwards in the fight against Illicit Financial Flows. Some EU countries have already closed public access to beneficial ownership registries, while others may keep their registries open with the support of national legislation. The European Commission recognises that journalists and civil society have legitimate interests to access this information, and are likely to propose an amendment to the 6^th Anti-Money Laundering Directive (AMLD6) in January 2023.

We find this judgement misguided since it is based on a narrow understanding of the uses of public access to registries, with the rationale only covering existing money laundering and terrorist financing offences. Public access to BO registries plays a key role in the fight against environmental crimes, tax abuse, human rights abuses, and labour market abuses – but none of these were considered by the court as valid reasons for public access to BO data. It is likely that there will be on-request public access for civil society and journalists, but that requires to know already what one is looking for rather than find red flags.

Another important development to keep an eye for in 2023 is the key EU directive on corporate tax transparency, namely public country-by-country reporting (CBCR). This will move towards implementation in September 2023 as it is transposed and becomes part of national law in the 27 EU member states by June 2023, with reporting obligations to start by June 2024. EU member states will be able to make a more ambitious national transposition than what the directive sets as a minimum threshold.

The trouble with the directive is that it is not comprehensive as multinational corporations (MNCs) only report on activities in the EU and some jurisdictions on the highly problematic EU tax havens black and grey lists. If the rules were in force today, companies would not publish information on more than 75% of countries worldwide.

The EU, once a leader in tax transparency, will possibly be overshadowed by the Australian government promise to implement country-by-country reporting of all large multinationals operating there. Also there is a possibility of a knock-on effect in the US and elsewhere in opening the tax practices of large MNCs if the full CBCR information is included.

Also the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) accepted that public information on CBCR is a material issue for investors to demand company boards to implement, and shareholder resolutions have followed at Amazon, Microsoft, Cisco and other large multinational companies. In 2023, we will see more shareholder resolutions in the AGM season from April onwards concerning public CBCR, making the case for regulatory moves given that many investors find this information as being highly desirable especially when tax scandals are damaging to companies that work in public contracts.

We at FTC will make a renewed case for public access to BO registries and public country-by-country reporting in the EU and elsewhere based on the need to tackle environmental crimes that are not detected and reported on without the involvement of the public, journalists, and civil society as key users of BO data. Similarly, corporate secrecy of lack of tax reporting harms the enjoyment of human rights to health and education, as secretive private sector service providers in the care economy have been found to conceal their tax affairs.

Fighting environmental crimes through financial transparency

In 2023 we will seek to feed into developments towards a vessel transparency initiative, likely to be discussed both at the FAO Committee on Fisheries or the OECD Committee on Fisheries. Such a transparency initiative is necessary to implement the World Trade Organisation (WTO) agreed ban on subsidies to companies engaged in IUU fishing.

We will also look to develop proposals towards identifying IUU fishing as a natural resource crime both at FATF, as well as at UNODC which are custodians with UNCTAD of the UN SDG indicator on Illicit Financial Flows (IFFs). In Africa, we will seek recognition of IUU fishing as an Illicit Financial Flow at the African High-Level Panel on IFFs. FATF should define the scope of environmental crimes in a new report.

We already saw some progress in 2022 with the US sanctioning the beneficial owners of one of the top companies engaged in IUU fishing, Pingtan Maritime Enterprise Ltd. which we identified in our “Fishy Networks” report launched in October 2022 as one of the main companies involved in IUU fishing.. Importantly, the company was also delisted from the NASDAQ, the US based stock exchange. Yet, Europe, as mentioned above, took a step backwards with the European Court of Justice (ECJ) deeming public access to beneficial ownership registries as being invalid on the basis that privacy of ownership was more important.

Targeting oligarchs and a Global Asset Registry

The Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 has led to multiple countries sanctioning assets of Russian oligarchs including real estate, private bank accounts, yachts and luxury cars. Yet very little of the over US$1 trillion in assets laundered out of Russia in the last three decades has been found so far as much of such assets are hidden under the secrecy of shell companies. The FTC and ICRICT support the idea floated by Mario Draghi to create a registry of all assets, but this Global Asset Registry should not be limited to assets of Russian oligarchs.

The KleptoCapture Task Force was set up on 2 March 2022 in the immediate aftermath of the Russian invasion in Ukraine. But thus far, and based on public knowledge, they have identified mostly yachts, aircraft, sports cars and other high-profile assets belonging to sanctioned Russian oligarchs, which represent just a small part of the shady assets held by these wealthy individuals. This is partly since it largely relies on information that public interest groups, and investigative journalists have aggregated from best available public sources of information which is limited. If the beneficial owners of all assets were public, one would not need such a task force to hunt hidden assets.

In Europe, we see proposals towards registering assets that are not currently covered by the proposed 6^th Anti-Money Laundering Directive. Positively, the EU has sought to scope an EU Asset Registry but there is no proposal for to implement this yet.

Wealth tax campaigners in Latin America have also successfully put this issue in the agenda of countries like Argentina and Bolivia, by emphasising the importance of taxing wealth. Colombia for example included a wealth tax in its tax reform bill in late 2022, and also raised corporate taxes on mining, coal and oil companies in order to avoid austerity.

In 2023, we expect Chile to implement a wealth tax for those with assets over US$4.9 million, making only the very wealthiest to pay such a tax. But all this hinges on having a global asset registry. If assets were on a public registry, it would be much easier to design effective and progressive wealth taxes that would generate much-needed revenue to tackle the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and to avert austerity and cuts from being made. 2023 will tell how this fight will end.

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OECD must end dangerous revolving door with private sector

Holden Healy — Wed, 26 Oct 2022 06:58:51 +0000

Outgoing head of the OECD Centre for Tax Policy and Administration (CTPA), Pascal Saint-Amans will be joining private sector lobbying firm Brunswick Group on November 1.This shows the lack of integrity on ‘revolving door’ phenomenon at the OECD, questioning progress on key global tax initiatives, writes Matti Kohonen, executive director of Financial Transparency Coalition.

The Brunswick Group itself presents the problem in its own words:

“Pascal has been at the centre of the biggest changes to the international tax framework in a generation. Drawing on his deep experience at the OECD and in politics, he is extremely well-placed to advise organizations on how to engage key stakeholders on tax and other critical policy issues.”

Brunswick then goes on to highlight that they expect him to act as a lobbyist, and to make use of information and experience gained in public office. All this while Saint-Amans remains at the OECD until October 31st, taking part in key negotiations such as the establishment of a minimum corporate tax and the OECD Inclusive Forum (IF) process in which he has been intricately involved.

This entire scenario openly contradicts the OECD’s own 2010 Recommendation Principles for Transparency and Integrity in Lobbying implemented by a number of member states, calling on imposing restrictions for public officials leaving office “to prevent conflict of interest when seeking a new position, to inhibit the misuse of ‘confidential information’, and to avoid post-public service ‘switching sides’ in specific processes in which the former officials were substantially involved.” The principles also recommend “a ‘cooling-off’ period that temporarily restricts former public officials from lobbying their past organisations.”

At a minimum Pascal Saint-Amans should agree to not lobby the OECD or any of the member states while he remains in his current role. But he has failed to do that.

If he is part of efforts to shape through effective business lobby advocacy conversations and outcomes in a campaign style approach, it may lead to altering the political dynamics of the Inclusive Framework. This is a wider concern already highlighted in the process, as the G-24 intergovernmental group, the African Tax Administrators Forum (ATAF), and the intergovernmental South Centre have voiced concerns that they are much less heard than high-income country groups like the European Union (EU) and the G7.

After all, the Brunswick Group advises businesses in lobbying governments that are members of the OECD, and possibly thus altering positions that some governments may take in the future regarding the Inclusive Framework. The Brunswick Group states in quite plain language that “government regulations and scrutiny can directly impact a company’s bottom line. Lobbying remains essential, but alone it is no longer sufficient. Effective advocacy, consistent engagement, and the ability to shape conversations and outcomes require a campaign-style approach.”

This issue also raises broader serious concerns at the OECD, as the secretariat has long publicly claimed that it seeks to give civil society the same access as it does to lobbyists from the private sector. However, just last year this was confirmed in spectacular style when the main business lobby group wrote publicly to the OECD, detailing the hitherto unknown set of working groups and special channels established for their benefit – and claiming it still allowed them insufficient influence.

An urgent independent ethics review on the relationship of the OECD, the CTPA in particular, and the private sector is required. The terms of reference for such a review should include this specific appointment, and the apparent absence of any safeguards on cooling off periods and how to manage conflicts of interest – present and future. The review should also evaluate the degree of private sector access to the OECD’s process for setting international tax rules, comparing this to national best practice for transparency and integrity in lobbying. Lastly, the review should consider and recommend policies to ensure that the OECD can end the “revolving door phenomenon”.

These shady practices cannot be allowed to stand, for everyone’s sake.

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Nuevo Informe: Mitad de los buques pesqueros INDNR del mundo operan en África, mayoría chinos y europeos

Holden Healy — Wed, 26 Oct 2022 06:58:44 +0000

Lea el resumen ejecutivo.

Lea el informe completo.

Washington D.C. – África concentra el 48,9% de los buques industriales y semi-industriales identificados en la pesca ilegal, no declarada y no reglamentada (pesca INDNR), según un nuevo informe de la Coalición de Transparencia Financiera y sus miembros, un grupo de 11 ONG de todo el mundo.

El informe titulado “Redes ocultas: Descubriendo las empresas e individuos detrás de la pesca ilegal a nivel mundial“, el análisis más extenso de los casos de pesca INDNR hasta la fecha, también advierte que los países en desarrollo pierden miles de millones de dólares en flujos de dinero ilícito por esta práctica cada año: Aproximadamente hasta $2.000 millones sólo en Argentina y hasta $11.490 millones en África. Además, el estudio revela que las 10 principales empresas involucradas en pesca INDNR para las cuales encontramos información sobre beneficiarios finales concentran casi una cuarta parte de todos los casos reportados: ocho de China, una de Colombia y otra de España, que recibió millones de dólares en la UE y otros subsidios.

La pesca INDNR contribuye a que más del 90% de los recursos pesqueros mundiales estén plenamente explotados, sobreexplotados o agotados, según la ONU, e impacta sobre todo a las zonas más afectadas por las consecuencias del cambio climático. Esta práctica representa una quinta parte de las capturas pesqueras mundiales, equivalente a $23.500 millones anuales, el tercer delito más lucrativo contra los recursos naturales tras la tala maderera y la minería.

El informe advierte que casi ningún país requiere información sobre los propietarios al registrar embarcaciones o solicitar licencias de pesca, lo que significa que los beneficiarios finales de estas actividades no son detectados ni castigados, y las multas a menudo se aplican a los capitanes y la tripulación de los buques.

Según Matti Kohonen, director ejecutivo de la Coalición de Transparencia Financiera: “La pesca ilegal es una industria masiva que amenaza directamente la subsistencia de millones de personas en América Latina y el resto del mundo, especialmente quienes viven en comunidades costeras en países en desarrollo ya de por sí afectados por la pandemia de Covid-19, el costo de vida y el impacto del cambio climático. Los países en desarrollo también pierden miles de millones de dólares en flujos de dinero ilícitos debido a la pesca ilegal, pero los propietarios de los buques continúan operando con total impunidad, utilizando estructuras empresariales complejas y otros esquemas para ocultar su identidad y evadir ser enjuiciados”.

Otros hallazgos clave del informe incluyen:

Los buques pesqueros con bandera de países de Asia representan el 54,7% de la pesca INDNR de buques industriales y semi-industriales, seguidos de América Latina (16,1 %), África (13,5 %) y Europa (12,8 %).
El 8,76% de los buques ilegales identificados utilizan banderas de conveniencia como Panamá y las Islas Caimán, que tienen controles laxos y bajos o nulos impuestos.
Algunos prominentes propietarios de embarcaciones ilegales aparecen en los Papeles de Panamá y otras revelaciones de transparencia financiera, resaltando el vínculo entre la pesca ilegal y los abusos fiscales.

Alfonso Daniels, autor principal del informe, afirmó: “Estados Unidos y la UE han pedido medidas contra los propietarios reales de buques de pesca ilegales, pero el marco para identificarlos sencillamente no existe. No había información sobre los accionistas en muchos casos, ni siquiera para algunas de las compañías más grandes vinculadas a la pesca ilegal incluso europeas, con barcos a menudo propiedad de múltiples empresas subsidiarias registradas en lugares como Curazao y Panamá, lo que refleja la naturaleza anárquica del sector pesquero, algo que debe terminar“.

La Coalición para la Transparencia Financiera solicita medidas urgentes para mejorar la transparencia en el sector pesquero para luchar contra la pesca INDNR, según lo siguiente:

Requerir información de los beneficiarios finales de los buques pesqueros al registrar un buque, solicitar una licencia de pesca, autorización, joint venture, o registro de bandera.

Establecer registros de beneficiarios finales, clasificando a los buques pesqueros y las empresas pesqueras como un sector de alto riesgo.

Incluir a la pesca como una industria extractiva en iniciativas clave, como la Iniciativa para la Transparencia de la Industria Extractiva (EITI) y otros esfuerzos mundiales y regionales, en materia de regulación y transparencia de las industrias extractivas.
Solicitar debida diligencia a la cadena de suministro, la cual debe extenderse a todas las cadenas de suministro, a la pesca INDNR y otros delitos relacionados con la pesca como parte de un paraguas más amplio respecto a los productos de los delitos contra los recursos naturales.
Publicar una lista actualizada de embarcaciones involucradas en la pesca INDNR que permitan el acceso a multas, sanciones a las empresas, y beneficiarios finales. Esta lista también debe cotejarse internacionalmente, bajo los auspicios de la OMI-FAO.

Mejorar la capacidad de monitoreo de los gobiernos de los estados costeros apoyando a sus guardacostas, requiriendo la aplicación de sistemas automáticos de vigilancia de embarcaciones y del Sistema de Identificación Automática (AIS por sus siglas en inglés).

Para cualquier información adicional o solicitudes de entrevista, comuníquese con el departamento de prensa de la FTC, envíe un correo electrónico a: press@financialtransparency.org

Notas para los editores:

La Coalición para la Transparencia Financiera (FTC) es una red global de la sociedad civil que opera como una coalición colaborativa de 11 organizaciones de la sociedad civil con sede en cada región del mundo. La FTC trabaja para reducir los flujos financieros ilícitos mediante la promoción de un sistema financiero transparente, responsable y sostenible que funcione para todos.

Los miembros de la FTC son: Transparencia Internacional, el Movimiento de los Pueblos Asiáticos sobre la Deuda y el Desarrollo, el Centro para la Rendición de Cuentas del Presupuesto y la Gobernanza, Christian Aid, la Red Europea sobre Deuda y Desarrollo, la Fundación SES, Global Financial Integrity, la Red Latinoamericana sobre Deuda, Desarrollo y Derechos, la Unión Panafricana de Abogados, la Red de Justicia Fiscal y la Red de Justicia Fiscal de África.

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FTC denounces OECD’s relationship with private sector lobbyists and calls for urgent ethics review

Holden Healy — Fri, 14 Oct 2022 07:00:47 +0000

The Financial Transparency Coalition, together with its coalition members, partners and allies, wish to denounce the OECD’s decision to allow the recent appointment of Pascal Saint-Amans – outgoing head of the OECD Centre for Tax Policy and Administration (CTPA), which provides the secretariat for the G20/OECD corporate tax proposals – to the private sector lobbying firm Brunswick Group.

This move demonstrates the risks between the “revolving door” between private and public office, as there are no safeguards in place to protect against and manage conflicts of interest. This in turn threatens to raise the perception of a conflict of interest, since as long as Saint-Amans is still employed at the OECD, there would appear to be a risk that the views of those contracting for his future employment could influence decisions within the ongoing negotiations.

Brunswick itself presents the problem in their press release: “Pascal has been at the center of the biggest changes to the international tax framework in a generation. Drawing on his deep experience at the OECD and in politics, he is extremely well-placed to advise organizations on how to engage key stakeholders on tax and other critical policy issues.”

Their press release allows then to establish two facts: a) that his new employer does in fact expect him to have a role of a lobbyist (see subpoint below) and b) make use (and potentially misuse) information and experience gained in public office (already stated by Brunswick).

This openly contradicts the OECD’s own 2010 Recommendation Principles for Transparency and Integrity in Lobbying which state that:

“Countries should consider establishing restrictions for public officials leaving office in the following situations: to prevent conflict of interest when seeking a new position, to inhibit the misuse of ‘confidential information’, and to avoid post-public service ‘switching sides’ in specific processes in which the former officials were substantially involved. It may be necessary to impose a ‘cooling-off’ period that temporarily restricts former public officials from lobbying their past organisations. Conversely, countries may consider a similar temporary cooling-off period restriction on appointing or hiring a lobbyist to fill a regulatory or an advisory post.”

Other international organisations are more advanced in terms of preventing conflicts of interests. Guidelines developed in the EU Commission, for instance, require a cooling off period of three years for the President and two years for Commissioners, while EU Staff (Directors-General, Deputy Directors-General, Directors and Heads of Cabinet) are banned from lobbying the EU institution for 12 months. Revolving door cases involving senior officials are made public and complaints are investigated by the Ombudsman.

No similar rule exists for OECD officials, only for conflicts of interest during the employment which apply to Saint-Amans. His new role in Brunswick will start on November 1, the following day of his role ending at the OECD on October 31. So he has announced his next job while still occupying his public position, and among other duties has taken part in intergovernmental negotiations at the meeting of the OECD Inclusive Framework on October 6, where he gave his farewell.

More broadly, the OECD’s decision to allow their head of tax to move directly into private sector lobbying is, sadly, in line with the organisation’s entire approach in handling the mandate provided to it by the G20 group of major economies, to reform corporate tax. The OECD secretariat has long publicly claimed that it seeks to give civil society the same access as it does to lobbyists from the private sector. In addition, the recently created ‘Inclusive Framework’ is claimed to give all countries, including lower-income countries which are not OECD members, an equal voice in the decisions being taken.

In practice, neither of these OECD claims is borne out by the evidence. Within the Inclusive Framework, lower-income country groups such as the G-24 intergovernmental group, the African Tax Administrators Forum (ATAF) and the intergovernmental South Centre, have repeatedly called out the lack of time given for their members to review documents (sometimes just overnight), and noted that only G7 countries ultimately had significant influence. The lack of voting or any other representative decision-making also ensures that dissent is largely invisible.

Civil society has often highlighted the lack of fair access, and last year this was confirmed in spectacular style when the main business lobby group wrote publicly to the OECD, detailing the hitherto unknown set of working groups and special channels established for their benefit – and claiming it still allowed them insufficient influence!

We call for an urgent independent ethics review on the relationship of the OECD, the CTPA in particular, and the private sector. The terms of reference for such a review should include this specific appointment, and the apparent absence of any safeguards on cooling off periods and how to manage conflicts of interest – present and future. The review should also evaluate the degree of private sector access to the OECD’s process for setting international tax rules, comparing this to national best practice for on transparency and integrity in lobbying. Lastly, the review should consider and recommend policies to ensure that the OECD can end the “revolving door phenomenon”.

For interview requests, please contact Alfonso Daniels from FTC’s media team at adaniels@financialtransparency.org

NOTES TO EDITORS:

The Financial Transparency Coalition (FTC) is a global civil society network, operating as a collaborative coalition of eleven civil society organizations based in every region of the world. The FTC works to curtail illicit financial flows through the promotion of a transparent, accountable and sustainable financial system that works for everyone.
The Financial Transparency Coalition members are: Asian Peoples Movement on Debt and Development, Centre for Budget and Governance Accountability, Christian Aid, European Network on Debt and Development, Fundación-SES, Global Financial Integrity, Latin American Network on Debt, Development and Rights, Pan-African Lawyers Union, Tax Justice Network, Tax Justice Network Africa, and Transparency International.

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38% of Covid recovery funds went to big corporations in developing countries, instead of social protection

Holden Healy — Wed, 28 Sep 2022 04:02:44 +0000

Read the full report here.

Only 38 percent of Covid-19 recovery funds in 21 developing countries analyzed went to urgent social protection measures. Women received half as much funds as men, almost no help for informal workers.
Overall, Covid support last year was one-third less than 2020, even as needs grew.
FTC calls for leaders to tackle global crises at IMF/World Bank Annual Meetings on October 10-16 via progressive economic measures instead of austerity.

WASHINGTON D.C. – A new report found that 38 percent of Covid-19 recovery funds in 21 developing countries went to big corporations instead of social protection, smaller businesses and informal workers. The new report by the Financial Transparency Coalition (FTC) and partners entitled “Recovery at a Crossroads: how countries spent Covid-19 funds” also found that one-third less money was spent last year compared to 2020, down to 2.4 percent of GDP on average, due to the worsening economic situation, even as the needs kept growing.

This is happening as more than 85 percent of the world’s population will live in the grip of stringent austerity measures by next year. In total, between 75 to 95 million people are expected to be pushed into extreme poverty this year alone due to the Covid-19 pandemic and the cost-of-living crisis spurred by the Ukraine war amid rising inequality, according to the UN.

Matti Kohonen, director of the Financial Transparency Coalition, said: “Despite the cost-of-living crisis, governments in developing countries, often with their hands tied by international financial institutions, are putting big corporations ahead of the people. Nearly 40 percent of Covid-19 recovery funds went to big companies including loans and tax cuts, meaning that those most impacted by the pandemic, especially women and informal workers, have been left behind with inadequate social protection coverage.”

The report also found:

Women, who have particularly impacted by the crisis, only received half as much support as men, increasing gender inequality. Meantime informal workers only received 4 percent of funds overall, despite representing the vast majority of the workforce in many countries like Bangladesh and Malawi.
Zambia which now faces a debt crisis, allocated less than 5 percent of stimulus funds to social protection, spending around 90 percent supporting big businesses. Sri Lanka that faces an economic collapse also mostly spent its recovery in tax cuts to corporates.
Only eight countries of the 21 analysed – Brazil, Chile, El Salvador, Guatemala, Lebanon, India, Malawi and Ghana – spent more than half of funds on social protection. However some of the countries topping this list like Lebanon and Malawi spent equal or less than 1 percent of GDP in recovery measures, less than half the average for other countries.

The report warns that pressure by international institutions such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to introduce austerity measures and cut funding for basic public services in return for debt restructuring is making things worse. For instance, in Zambia austerity cuts in public spending and rises in Value-Added Taxes (VAT) that hurt the poorest are being imposed as part of the IMF loan program.

Matti Kohonen said: “Nearly 100 million people are expected to be pushed into extreme poverty this year, and things will get worse as many countries like Ghana and Brazil which have allocated significant funds to social protection are now planning to sharply reduce their social stimulus packages. Meantime many others are planning cuts in essential healthcare, education and social protection, as they run out of money due to lower economic growth and in the face of tough lending criteria from the IMF and other institutions.

“Next month’s IMF/World Bank Annual Meetings should promote a people-centered recovery with progressive tax policies on windfall profits of large corporates and wealth of top 1% of the population, instead of failed austerity measures, otherwise more countries may collapse economically like Zambia and Sri Lanka which benefitted big companies and now face severe debt crises,” he added.

The FTC is calling for all countries and international institutions such as the IMF and World Bank to implement alternative policies to bring a people-center recovery instead of austerity. They include taxing excess windfall corporate profits; introducing progressive levels of income and wealth taxes; eliminating illicit financial flows by implementing public beneficial ownership registries for all sectors and public country-by-country reporting especially those at high risk of money laundering and tax abuses; and increasing social security contributions and coverage.

END

For any additional information or interview requests, contact the FTC communications and media department, email: press@financialtransparency.org

A media launch event of the report will be held during the End Austerity Festival where alternatives to austerity will be presented on Wednesday September 28, with high level speakers. Registration details can be found here.

NOTES TO EDITORS:

The Financial Transparency Coalition (FTC) is a global civil society network, operating as a collaborative coalition of eleven civil society organizations based in every region of the world. The FTC works to curtail illicit financial flows through the promotion of a transparent, accountable and sustainable financial system that works for everyone.
The Financial Transparency Coalition members are: Asian Peoples Movement on Debt and Development, Centre for Budget and Governance Accountability, Christian Aid, European Network on Debt and Development, Fundación-SES, Global Financial Integrity, Latin American Network on Debt, Development and Rights, Pan-African Lawyers Union, Tax Justice Network, Tax Justice Network Africa, and Transparency International.

TABLE: Percentage Covid-19 recovery funds, by sector

	Social protection	Incentives large companies	SMEs	Informal workers
Bangladesh	12%	60%	18%	10%
El Salvador	54%	18%	20%	7%
Guatemala	51%	3%	36%	11%
Honduras	30%	5%	65%	0%
Nicaragua	13%	87%	0%	0%
Jordan	18%	0%	63%	19%
Afghanistan	12%	74%	4%	11%
Zambia	5%	95%	0%	0%
Ghana	70%	20%	10%	0%
Uganda	4%	87%	8%	1%
Lebanon	94%	0%	6%	0%
Costa Rica	25%	41%	34%	0%
Colombia	9%	50%	26%	15%
Argentina	37%	36%	13%	14%
Brazil	58%	35%	7%	0%
Ecuador	25%	39%	36%	0%
Chile	51%	28%	19%	2%
Sri Lanka	23%	76%	1%	0%
Nepal	28%	23%	49%	0%
India	93%	0%	7%	0%
Malawi	86%	12%	3%	0%
TOTAL	37%	39%	20%	4%

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38% los fondos de recuperación se destinaron a grandes empresas en países en desarrollo

Holden Healy — Wed, 28 Sep 2022 04:01:49 +0000

Lea el informe completo aqui.

Sólo el 38 por ciento de los fondos de recuperación de Covid-19 en 21 países en desarrollo analizados -10 de ellos en Latinoamérica- fueron a medidas urgentes de protección social, y casi no hubo ayuda para los trabajadores informales.
El apoyo a Covid-19 del año pasado fue un tercio menor que en 2020, incluso cuando crecieron las necesidades.
La FTC pide a los líderes mundiales que aborden las crisis en las Reuniones Anuales del FMI y el Banco Mundial a realizarse del 10 al 16 de octubre, con medidas económicas progresivas en lugar de austeridad.

WASHINGTON D.C. – El 38 por ciento de los fondos de recuperación de Covid-19 en 21 países en desarrollo se destinó rescatar a grandes empresas en lugar de a acciones de protección social, a pequeñas empresas o a trabajadores informales de acuerdo a los hallazgos del nuevo informe elaborado por la Coalición para la Transparencia Financiera (FTC, en inglés) y sus socios titulado “Recuperación en una encrucijada: cómo los países gastaron los fondos Covid-19 de rescate”; también halló que durante el 2021 se gastó un tercio menos de dinero en comparación con 2020, hasta el 2,4 por ciento del PIB en promedio, debido a la peor situación económica, incluso cuando la crisis también implicó que las necesidades aumentaron.

Se espera que entre 75 y 95 millones de personas se vean empujadas a la pobreza extrema solo este año en el mundo debido a la pandemia de la Covid-19 y la crisis del costo de la vida como resultado en parte de la guerra de Ucrania, a medida que la desigualdad sigue aumentando, según la ONU. Pero incluso con ese escenario, se estima que más del 85 por ciento de la población mundial vivirá bajo estrictas medidas de austeridad durante 2023.

Matti Kohonen, director de la FTC, afirmó que: “A pesar de la crisis del costo de vida, los gobiernos de los países en desarrollo, a menudo con las manos atadas por las instituciones financieras internacionales como el FMI, priorizan a las grandes empresas por delante de las personas. Casi el 40 por ciento de los fondos de recuperación de Covid-19 se destinaron a grandes empresas, incluidos préstamos y recortes de impuestos, dejando a los más afectados por la pandemia, especialmente las mujeres y los trabajadores informales, sin una adecuada protección social”.

El informe también reveló lo siguiente:

Las mujeres, que se han visto particularmente afectadas por la crisis, solo recibieron la mitad de apoyo de lo que recibieron los hombres, aumentando la desigualdad de género. Mientras tanto, los trabajadores informales solo recibieron el 4 por ciento de estos fondos, a pesar de representar la gran mayoría de la fuerza laboral en muchos países como Bangladesh y Malawi.
Sólo ocho países (Brasil, Chile, El Salvador, Guatemala, Líbano, India, Malawi y Ghana) de los 21 analizados gastaron más de la mitad de los fondos en protección social. Sin embargo, algunos de los países que encabezan esta lista, como el Líbano y Malawi gastaron 1 por ciento o menos del PIB en medidas de recuperación, menos que la mitad del promedio de los otros países.

El informe advierte que la presión de instituciones internacionales como el Fondo Monetario Internacional (FMI) para introducir medidas de austeridad y recortar los fondos para los servicios públicos básicos, a cambio de la reestructuración de la deuda, está empeorando las cosas. Por ejemplo, en Zambia, como parte del programa de préstamos del FMI se están imponiendo recortes de austeridad en el gasto público y aumentos en los impuestos al valor agregado (IVA) que perjudican a los más pobres por su regresividad .

Matti Kohonen dijo: “Se espera que casi 100 millones de personas sean empujadas a la pobreza extrema este año, y las cosas empeorarán ya que muchos países como Brasil que han asignado fondos significativos a la protección social, ahora planean reducir drásticamente sus paquetes de estímulo social. Mientras tanto, muchos otros están planteando recortes en la atención médica, la educación y la protección social esenciales, debido al menor crecimiento económico y a los estrictos criterios del FMI y otras instituciones para otorgar o ajustar préstamos”.

“Las Reuniones Anuales del FMI y el Banco Mundial del próximo mes deberían promover una recuperación centrada en las personas con políticas fiscales progresivas sobre las ganancias inesperadas de las grandes empresas y la riqueza del 1 por ciento superior de la población, en lugar de medidas de austeridad fallidas. De lo contrario, más países podrían derrumbarse económicamente como Zambia y Sri Lanka, que beneficiaron a las grandes empresas y ahora enfrentan graves crisis de deuda”, añadió el director de la FTC.

La FTC está pidiendo a todos los países e instituciones internacionales como el FMI y el Banco Mundial que implementen políticas alternativas para lograr una recuperación centrada en las personas en lugar de austeridad. Éstas incluyen gravar el exceso de ganancias corporativas inesperadas; introducir impuestos progresivos sobre la renta y el patrimonio; eliminar los flujos financieros ilícitos mediante la implementación de registros públicos de beneficiarios reales para todos los sectores y la presentación de informes públicos país por país, especialmente aquellos con alto riesgo de lavado de dinero y abusos fiscales; y aumentar las contribuciones y la cobertura de la seguridad social.

FIN

Para cualquier información adicional o solicitudes de entrevista, comuníquese con el departamento de prensa de la FTC, envíe un correo electrónico a: press@financialtransparency.org

Un evento de lanzamiento del informe el próximo miércoles a las 1300 GMT durante un evento de alto nivel en el Festival de Activismo No Más Austeridad donde se presentarán alternativas a la austeridad. Los detalles para registrarse se pueden encontrar aquí.

NOTAS PARA LOS EDITORES:

La Coalición para la Transparencia Financiera (FTC) es una red global de la sociedad civil, que opera como una coalición colaborativa de once organizaciones de la sociedad civil con sede en todas las regiones del mundo. La FTC trabaja para reducir los flujos financieros ilícitos a través de la promoción de un sistema financiero transparente, responsable y sostenible que funcione para todos.
Los miembros de la FTC son: Transparencia Internacional, Asian Peoples Movement on Debt and Development, Centre for Budget and Governance Accountability, Christian Aid, European Network on Debt and Development, Fundación SES, Global Financial Integrity, Red Latinoamericana por Justicia Económica y Social (Latindadd), Pan-African Lawyers Union, Tax Justice Network y Tax Justice Network Africa.

Cuadro: Porcentaje del gasto total de la pandemia, por sector

	Protección Social	Incentivos grandes empresas	PYMES	Sector privado informal
Bangladesh	12%	60%	18%	10%
El Salvador	54%	18%	20%	7%
Guatemala	51%	3%	36%	11%
Honduras	30%	5%	65%	0%
Nicaragua	13%	87%	0%	0%
Jordan	18%	0%	63%	19%
Afganistán	12%	74%	4%	11%
Zambia	5%	95%	0%	0%
Ghana	70%	20%	10%	0%
Uganda	4%	87%	8%	1%
Líbano	94%	0%	6%	0%
Costa Rica	25%	41%	34%	0%
Colombia	9%	50%	26%	15%
Argentina	37%	36%	13%	14%
Brasil	58%	35%	7%	0%
Ecuador	25%	39%	36%	0%
Chile	51%	28%	19%	2%
Sri Lanka	23%	76%	1%	0%
Nepal	28%	23%	49%	0%
India	93%	0%	7%	0%
Malawi	86%	12%	3%	0%
TOTAL	37%	39%	20%	4%

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FTC high-level event: Uncovering Offshore Funds – Opportunities to Advance Human Rights

Holden Healy — Tue, 07 Jun 2022 16:04:27 +0000

In collaboration with Millionaires for Humanity, The Financial Transparency Coalition (FTC) organized a fascinating high-level event on June 2nd, 2022.

This event covered wealth taxes and the measures global South countries are taking to tackle billions of dollars hidden in offshore tax havens and whether they can succeed amid a global food and energy crisis.

Panelists included Professor Attiya Waris, UN Independent Expert on external debt, other financial obligations, and human rights; Djaffar Shalchi, founder of Human Act Foundation with its initiative Millionaires for Humanity; Ricardo Martner, Commissioner at ICRICT and Itai Hagman, member of Argentina’s Chamber of Deputies. The event was moderated by Eryn Schornick, Strategic Advisor.

The panel discussion, which can be viewed in its entirety below, analyzed the Covid-19 crisis and the worsening inequality made worse by the global food and energy crisis, which is expected to push 263 million people into extreme poverty in 2022, which compares with 573 more billionaires in the world by March 2022 from the start of the pandemic.

Here are some of the highlights from the panelists, including key quotes and discussions during their presentations:

Professor Attiya Waris

UN INDEPENDENT EXPERT ON EXTERNAL DEBT, OTHER FINANCIAL OBLIGATIONS, AND HUMAN RIGHTS

“Rights require resources. It doesn’t matter if you’re looking at the right to vote in a country or the ability to access a fair trial or even whether you could put food on the table. All of these are rights and all of them cost money. Therefore, the problem becomes what happens when a country or a community, or an individual doesn’t have these financial resources. What happens is they go through a series of situations more and more desperate until they reach a point where they cannot survive, and it does link to the right to life.”

“What do we need to do about global finances to make sure that these situations that are so dire don’t happen? In my perspective illicit financial flows and the inability or unwillingness of states and international organizations to grasp onto these resources, control them to a certain extent, and then tax them where they are taxable means that that particular nation or region is unable to collect the resources that it has designed the system to collect. Meaning they cannot spend the money to improve living conditions. Countries then resort to pulling and taking on more debt to fill in the gap. Sometimes it is domestic debt sometimes it is a public creditor sometimes it is a private creditor. All of these have power implications, and it is this power that results in so many far-reaching consequences.”

Djaffar Shalchi

FOUNDER OF HUMAN ACT FOUNDATION WITH ITS INITIATIVE MILLIONAIRES FOR HUMANITY

“We need to talk about the solutions, and we, billionaires are part of the solution. We can and need to push governments for a wealth tax. Unfortunately, there is huge pressure through lobby behind decision-makers to block these tax measures.”

“The vast majority of the population around 70% in various countries support wealth taxes, but politicians are not implementing them despite being an obvious way to tackle wealth inequality.”

Ricardo Martner

COMMISSIONER AT ICRICT

“Solutions should begin at home. That is the link between the global and national. We have the capacity to generate a greater ability to keep records of what the great invaders are actually doing. We have the ability to make info transparent and accessible and that involves having tools so tax systems can be more fair.”

“It is important to generate the capacity to tax those that we refer to as the ‘super rich’ which is not the same as taxing. And that’s the challenge. We need a global registry. If we are not coordinated throughout the planet, we will lose a lot of currency. The world also needs to define what tax havens are very well because there are countries that are about to become this.”

Itai Hagman

MEMBER CHAMBER OF DEPUTIES, ARGENTINA

“We need to solve this without having it be a burden on the workers. It is a problem of justice and democratic reparation. In the same way that during the pandemic there was a contribution of the greater taxpayers required to aid countries worldwide.”

“The capital flight from Argentina is greater than the loan that the IMF made to Argentina, so the money to pay this debt is sitting in tax havens outside of the country, the top 10% of people account for 93% of capital flight…. The issue of financial exit and exit of financial flows is the issue of excessive concentration of wealth. So, in our country, in particular, Argentina has seen an intense capital drain in recent years in many cases the drain goes towards tax havens which don’t allow our economy to invest these resources in sustaining our own economic development.”

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