People of the world call for a UN tax convention

On Saturday 15th October a coalition of more than 200 social justice organisations from across the world joined the G77, China and the Africa Group at the United Nations in demanding a UN tax convention to tackle elite tax avoidance and foster international cooperation on tax matters.

Alvin Mosioma, Executive Director of Tax Justice Network Africa, said, "Unless the failures of the international tax system are urgently addressed, developing countries will continue to lose billions of dollars due to illicit financial flows and other forms of tax abuse. This situation has to be brought to an end. The G77 and China and the Africa Group at the UN are leading the way”.

World Basic Income was among the organisations supporting this vital call for reform. For far too long, countries across the world have struggled to ensure that multinational companies pay their fair share of tax. More recently, international cooperation has taken place in the OECD, a club for rich countries in which the peoples of the Global South have little voice. Since 2015 countries of the South have been calling this out, and their renewed demands this weekend, supported by civil society organisations from around the world, have added fuel to the fire.

A UN tax body will be vital to properly tackle tax evasion and avoidance, as it would provide global oversight of tax matters and leave transnational companies nowhere to hide from tax rules. It may later also provide the potential for deeper cooperation on taxation, which could include global taxation of wealth, financial transactions or carbon extraction: all potential funding streams for a global UBI.