Objectives

This project, which is anticipated to run from February 2008 to March 2009, is intended to promote the development of effective tax systems and administrations while highlighting the role that South-South sharing of experiences and cooperation can play in mobilizing domestic resources for development. It has two parallel yet closely related concrete objectives:

• Documenting, sharing and building on Southern practices in the area of taxation, with a view to assisting in the mobilization of domestic resources, including encouraging investment to complement countries’ national development strategies;
• Identifying, documenting and advancing areas where there is greater scope for regional and multilateral cooperation on tax issues to further assist in the mobilization of domestic resources by:
  1. assisting in transforming successful Southern practices into practices suitable for more regional and multilateral contexts; and
  2. further integrating Southern perspectives into the development of international norms in the area of taxation, particularly those addressing issues such as tax avoidance and evasion, which are of particular concern to countries of the South.

Achievements to Date

Successful partnerships have been established with the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs and New Rules for Global Finance, which will be the implementing partner of the project.

S4TP Initiative Launched in May 2008 at New York University

The conference “Revenue’s Role in the Quest for Inclusive Development: What works and what can work better? South-South Sharing of Successful Tax Practices (S4TP)” met on 22 and 23 May 2008 at New York University.  The meeting launched an innovative joint project of the Special Unit on South-South Cooperation of the United Nations Development Programme, in close cooperation with the Financing for Development Office of the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs and two Non-Governmental Organisations: the New Rules for Global Finance Coalition and the Tax Justice Network. 

The focus of this first meeting was on sharing experiences with taxation in a number of areas including extractive industries, transfer pricing, modernising tax with use of technology, etc.  Participants represented a depth of experience which was subsequently enlarged to form networks to continue the sharing of materials, experiences, and perspectives. The meeting recognised there is much to be done to improve South-South cooperation in the tax sphere, both on the day to day practical level, and on the international level, by enhancing developing countries inputs into the process of setting the global tax norms that will affect them.

High-level Panel Convened at the International Conference on Financing for Development, Doha, Qatar, 30 Nov – 1 Dec, 2008

The dialogue on South-South Sharing of Successful Tax Practices continued and expanded at the International Conference on Financing for Development in Doha, Qatar. There, on 30 November, 2008, a high-level panel of southern tax experts explored opportunities to expand developing and emerging market countries’ voices in the development of international tax norms and to adjust the status of the UN Committee of Experts on International Cooperation in Tax Matters to an intergovernmental body.  The panel also considered transfer pricing and pressing issues in natural resources taxation, both of which have strong potential for tax cooperation linked to sustained development.

This meeting also launched the publication Revenue’s Role in the Quest for Inclusive Development, What Works and What Can Work Better?  The chapters explore successful country experiences in addressing key taxation issues that would benefit other Southern countries.  The book and DVD are designed for immediate use by in-country legislators and regulators responsible for designing tax policy, by tax administrators and by professors of tax law and economics. 

Mr. Sha Zukang, Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs, United Nations & Mr. Yiping Zhou, Director, Special Unit for South-South Cooperation United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) – (speaking on behalf of Mr. Kemal Dervis, Administrator, United Nations Development Programme) launched the publication. They spoke of the importance of taxation to achieve sustainable development and of the value of South-South cooperation in this area. They emphasized the need to mobilise domestic resources for development and ensuring southern countries voice and participation in the development of tax norms.

Future plans for this work include establishing a new virtual UN Tax Academy with supporting mechanisms to facilitate south-south and north-south cooperation in tax practices.  The academy may become part of the South-South Development Academy, bringing Southern policy makers, tax commissioners, and staff together for training, engaging in mutual learning and teaching on issues that are of highest priority and in a manner that can be readily implemented as “participants” return to their offices.  The virtual academy will be fluid and adaptable to the diverse needs of Southern governments.

Download Publication: Revenue’s Role in the Quest for Inclusive Development: What Works and What Can Work Better? (link below)