The structural root causes of gender-based violence (GBV) run deep; thus, a comprehensive set of measures and actions are urgently needed to address the issue. On the tax and fiscal front, the lack of tax allocation and funding coupled with tax abuse of the elite have stunted GBV response and prevention.
The trend of regressive taxation burdens women and the marginalized who end up paying for public services that states should provide. Coupled with the trend of underfunding and privatization, women and the marginalized are robbed of access to these essential services including GBV prevention and access to justice. Systematic tax avoidance by corporations and the elite also results in staggering amounts of foregone revenues that could have been used to finance public services, infrastructures, research, health care, legal assistance, financial and other support for victim-survivors of GBV and their families, and other measures urgently needed to end the pandemic of gender-based violence.
As such, essential to ending gender-based violence is supporting progressive and gender-responsive tax and fiscal policy reforms. We must shift from regressive and discriminatory tax policies towards progressive and gender-responsive tax and fiscal systems that would increase funding for gender mainstreaming and quality and gender-responsive public services, including GBV prevention and access to justice.
#MakesTaxesWorkForWomen! Transform the current tax and fiscal architecture to truly serve our needs.
