Civil Society Key Recommendations
- Supporting the establishment of efficient and fair taxation systems and strengthening financial administration
Earnings from capital and resource extraction should be taxed more heavily than earnings from labour. Tax systems should be more redistributive, with tax relief for low wage workers and the poor. A progressive system of taxation must also be gender sensitive, taking account of the differential holdings of assets and rents between men and women.
- Transparent income reporting and effective taxation of transnational corporations
Tax exemptions or tax incentives for transnational investors in Special Economic Zones is counterproductive and should be strongly discouraged. Corporate tax regimes should be promoted in an internationally co-ordinated manner.
More transparent international accounting standards for transnational corporations on a country-by-country basis are also needed.
Lack of transparency in reporting must be addressed, as it leads to misappropriation, corruption and tax evasion.
All companies ought to be legally required to disclose all information on taxes, profits, fees and other payment flows between them and public institutions in all countries in which they operate. Such disclosure requirements should, at a minimum, use the reporting template adopted by the voluntary "Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative"(EITI). Jurisdictions controlling major capital markets should make such disclosure a requirement for being registered in such markets. Best practice with reporting mechanisms should in turn be used as the basis for establishing a UN Treaty to provide global disclosure requirements for the extractive sector.
A government’s capacity to implement an effective corporate taxation regime should not be limited by conditionalities attached to aid, loans or trade agreements.
- Supporting the repatriation of stolen public assets
The United Nations Anti-Corruption Convention must play an active role in addressing corruption and the flight of public monies. The Convention ought to be ratified by all countries and implemented at national level as soon as possible.
The Conference of Parties to the Convention must also set up an effective system of monitoring, to assess whether states are effectively fulfilling their commitments regarding the Convention.
Initiatives such as the StAR (Stolen Assets Recovery Initiative) ought to be strengthened. Recovered assets should be used for meeting the MDGs.
- Strengthening world-wide tax co-operation and setting up an International Tax Organisation
In the short term, the UN Committee of Experts on International Co-operation in Tax Matters should be upgraded to an intergovernmental body such as a functional commission of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), and adequately resourced.
In the longer term, an independent International Tax Organisation ought to be created, as a Specialized Agency of the United Nations.
- Towards a more balanced domestic economic policy agenda - Promoting participatory and gender responsive budgets as tools for including the voices of the poor and of women in fiscal policy
Increased government investment in support of social reproduction in the care economy should be promoted as a contribution to effective fiscal policy.
The greater allocation of domestic resources toward gender equality is critical to achieving MDG3 and signals a country’s commitment to gender equality through investments of their own resources.
National development planning needs to enhance the participation of women and actively take into account their concerns. To this end, national women’s and civil society organisations should be included in the process of planning, programming, managing, monitoring and evaluating national development plans, including through donor support, informed by the principles of national democratic ownership and mutual accountability.
Public Finance Management systems and practices need to support rather than undermine participatory and gender responsive budgeting. Participatory and gender responsive budgeting will be facilitated by gender-budget analysis and gender-disaggregated data, including time-use surveys that measure women’s unpaid work and its contribution to the national economy.