Presented by Titi Soentoro at the First High-Level Follow-up Dialogue on Financing for Development in Asia and Pacific. 

Aksi! for gender, social and ecological justice, Indonesia

The Proposal of Asia-Pacific Tax Forum for Sustainable Development should not only focus on efforts to increase tax revenue, create tax policies for directly supporting inclusive growth and addressing harmful tax competition, as well as create a platform for discussing new international tax standards and practices.

The Proposal should also acknowledge that governments of the developing countries are facing loss of tax revenue among others due to:

• Tax evasion and tax avoidance by private companies that trigger huge loss of tax revenues;
• Lack of transparency in the global tax system,
• Continued operation of tax havens, illicit financial flows, and
• Accountability and transparency of tax payments of Multinational Corporations (MNCs) are challenges to be addressed too.
• Trade mispricing that comprises one of the principal sources of illicit financial outflows from developing countries.

Addressing those issues should be also part of the Proposal.

The Proposal should create a notion that raising of revenues should be accompanied by transparent and participatory budget processes; on the other hand the spending policy should aim for poverty reduction, environmental sustainability and ensure provisions for social services and social protection.

Moreover, the Proposal should encourage governments to ensure progressive taxation, broadening tax base to include the rich, less indirect taxes, efficient tax collection systems. Subsidies and incentives for the corporates must be reduced so as to ensure fair taxation for all and lessen the inequalities between the rich and the poor.

The Tax Forum should also see a reality that tax regimes are not gender neutral. Women and men experience the impact of tax policies as part of the workforce, as consumers, producers and as responsible for the “care economy” within and outside households. Regressive tax structures have disproportionate negative impacts on women. In order to apply the principle of equality, the Proposal should develop strategies to expand tax base in a progressive way. This would imply to shift the tax burden from consumption taxes paid by women, people living in poverty and other marginalized groups such as gays, lesbian and trans people who are in the bottom of the income distribution, to progressive taxation systems including profitable sectors who are under-taxed (for instance the financial sector, extractive).

Hope you will consider our thoughts for your proposal. Thank you.