In a world marked by escalating crises, worsening inequalities, austerity, and failures of fiscal and tax systems, this year’s Asia Days of Action for Tax Justice is a resounding call to address the pressing global challenges that have disproportionately impacted the peoples of the Global South, particularly in Asia. The next few days will underscore the critical need to prioritize the needs and rights of people and the planet and the urgency of reforming our national and global tax systems.
We aim to highlight the fundamental role of progressive taxation, wealth redistribution, and reforms in the global tax system as essential tools in tackling the multifaceted crises we face. We will expose the role that regressive tax policies, rampant tax abuses by corporations and the elite, and a broken international tax system play in the accumulation and concentration of wealth in the hands of a few, and in the historical and continuing transfer of wealth from the Global South to the North.
At its core, this initiative advocates for:
● Tax the Rich, Not the Poor!
● Wealth Tax Now!
● End unjust tax burdens on the People!
● End elite and gender biases in tax systems!
● Stop corporate tax abuses!
● End inequalities in global tax rules and rulemaking! UN Tax Convention Now! UN Tax Body Now!
We call on governments and the international community to advance progressive tax reforms and end inequalities in global tax rules and rulemaking. We reiterate our call to reject the OECD-G20 “Tax Deal of the Rich,” the Inclusive Framework on Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) and to pursue decisive steps to realize a UN Tax Convention and UN Tax Body where all countries negotiate on equal footing. These are necessary measures toward ensuring that all nations have a voice in international tax reform efforts and in ending inequalities in global tax rules and rulemaking. These are crucial steps toward fixing our global tax system and plugging the leaks of corporate tax abuses and other types of illicit financial flows that drain our economies and deprive people across the world of essential rights and services.
In advancing our just demands for progressive taxation and reforms of the global tax system during the Asia Days of Action for Tax Justice, we highlight the solidarity of the tax justice movement in Asia as a beacon of hope in the pursuit of a just and equitable world where public resources serve the common good.
Goals and Outputs of Asia Days of Action Activities
1. Seeks to raise awareness of the multiple crises and to highlight the role that tax systems play in exacerbating the multiple crises and the need to transform them.
2. Advocate for reforms in national and global systems to end elite and gender biases and end inequalities in global tax rules.
Some Key Activities:
● Online Forum, “UN Tax Convention Now: An Urgent Call for Tax Justice
22 September 2023
The state of tax justice in Asia and the road to a UN Tax Convention will be discussed in an online forum jointly organized by Tax and Fiscal Justice Asia and Tax Justice Network. The forum will look at how offshore tax evasion and other tax abuses by corporations and individuals are affecting the lives of people in Asia. It also aims to amplify civil society demands for tax justice and a more democratic and inclusive global tax body under the auspices of the United Nations.
● An Open Letter to Governments and the International Community, and sign on statement.
The Asian Peoples’ Movement on Debt and Development (APMDD), a member of TAFJA, will release an Open Letter and sign-on statement on the 18th of September to kick off the Asia Days of Action for Tax Justice.
● Country activities and social media campaigns, 18-22 September.
TAFJA members and partners are enjoined to participate in a social media campaign and in country activities in Nepal, Pakistan and the Philippines to deliver our urgent messages to governments in Asia, the Global South, and around the world.