FR - International Taxation from Global South Perspectives

October 13, 2021

Tax revenue mobilization plays a key role in financing the economic and social development of countries. Indeed, tax policy can have several implications on the behavior of economic agents, investment, jobs, innovation, and on the attractiveness of foreign direct investment. As result, a poorly designed tax policy can negatively impact economic growth and led to bad economic outcomes. Well designed and implemented, it can help developing countries to raise revenue and to increase their spending, especially in the social sector, such as education and health, and for redistribution purposes to help reduce inequality. While tax revenues as a share of GDP represent on average nearly 34% in OECD countries, they represent only 15% to 20% in low and middle-income countries. This large gap results from several factors, including imbalanced and complex international standards excessively suited to developed countries, the over-allocation of taxing rights to high-income countries, the difficulty of collecting taxes in developing countries which is linked to the complexities involved in taxing large multinationals enterprises (MNEs) who have superior abilities to use lawyers and accountants to avoid taxes, opaque and exploitative dispute settlement through international arbitral tribunals and also the large economic share of the informal sector in these countries. By not taxing large MNEs effectively, not only do countries lose revenue but it also means that domestic companies find it more difficult to compete against the richer and more powerful foreign MNEs who have additional resources by not paying taxes. With these resources they can indulge in ‘predatory pricing’, acquisitions and various other strategies to eliminate local competitors. Hence, tax avoidance by MNEs also leads to competition and monopolistic concerns and stifles the growth of domestic companies. It should be noted that these low levels of tax revenue hinder the economic development of low and middle income countries and do not allow them to make the necessary and adequate investments in key sectors and public goods such as education and health, which are crucial for inclusive and sustainable growth in the long term. The key questions that will be discussed in this event will be: What reforms are needed to international standards that can strengthen the capacity of governments to raise revenue from MNEs without discouraging economic activity? What is the cost of tax havens for developing countries and what role can international cooperation play in dealing with this issue? What might the future of tax reform look like in the post-COVID-19 era, given the growing digitalization of the economy? Consult the Agenda : https://www.policycenter.ma/sites/default/files/Agenda%20PCNS-South_Center.pdf

Speakers
Abdelaaziz Ait Ali
Head - Research in Economics
Abdelaaziz Ait Ali is a principal Economist and head of the Research Department at the Policy Center for the New South. He joined the Center in 2014 after five years of experience at the Central Bank of Morocco. He worked as an economist in the International Studies and Relations Department and was analyzing the real estate price index and financial asset prices for monetary policy and financial stability purposes. Since then, Abdelaaziz has focused on cyclical and structural issues of the Moroccan economy, including macroeconomic management and industrial policy design. He has published articles on the reform of the exchange rate regime in the Moroccan economy and its implications for macroeconomic regulation, as well as on the evolution of the macroeconomic framework over th ...
Abdul Muheet Chowdhary
Senior Program Officer, South Center
Abdul Muheet Chowdhary is a Senior Programme Officer with the South Centre Tax Initiative (SCTI), part of the South Centre, a Geneva-based intergovernmental organization of developing countries. Previously, he served in India’s Ministry of External Affairs where he was in the Policy Planning and Research Division specialising in economic strategy. He was formerly a consultant to the United Nations Department of Public Information and also worked in the Parliament of India as a legislative aide specialising in tax and financial law. ...
Carlos Maria Correa
Executive Director, South Center
Carlos Correa began his term as South Centre Executive Director on 1 July 2018. Prior to this, he was the Special Advisor on Trade and Intellectual Property of the South Centre. Dr. Correa is a renowned international authority on intellectual property and technology issues. Professor Correa has worked with the Argentine government and has been the Director of the Center for Interdisciplinary Studies on Industrial Property and Economics (CEIDIE) at the Law Faculty of the University of Buenos Aires. He was a member of the UK Commission on Intellectual Property Rights, the Commission on Intellectual Property Rights, Innovation and Public Health established by the World Health Assembly and of the FAO Panel of Eminent Experts on Ethics in Food and Agriculture. He has been a visitin ...
Larabi Jaïdi
Senior Fellow
Larabi Jaïdi is a Senior Fellow at the Policy Center for the New South and an Affiliate Professor at Mohammed VI Polytechnic University. His areas of expertise include international economy, economic policies, international economic relations, regional economies, social development, international relations, and Mediterranean studies. He also served on the Special Commission on the New Development Model of Morocco, a consultative body created in November 2019 to formulate the country's new developmental guidelines. Jaïdi is a former Professor at Mohamed V University in Rabat-Agdal and a founding member of both the Centre Marocain de Conjoncture and the Groupement d’Etudes et de Recherches sur la Méditerranée.   Prof. Jaïdi previously served as Advisor to the Prime Minister an ...
Kim S. Jacinto-Henares
Commissioner, The independent Commission for Reform of International Corporate Taxation
Kim S. Jacinto-Henares, is an Independent Director of Basic Energy Corporation. She is currently a Director of Reg Tek, Inc. and serves as Senior International Advisor/Consultant to various groups and projects, like Albright Stonebridge Group. She is a Board Member of the Tribute Foundation for International Tax Dispute Resolution (The Hague, Netherlands) and a Commissioner of the Independent Commission for Reform of International Corporate Taxation. She served as a Member of the United Nations Economic & Social Commission for Asia and Pacific (Eminent Expert Group on Tax Policy and Public Expenditure Management, Bangkok, Thailand) and UN Committee on Experts on International Cooperation in Tax Matters (Geneva, Switzerland). She was appointed Commissioner of the Bureau of ...
Natalia Quinones Cruz
Colombia's former representative in the OECD in tax negotiations
Natalia Quiñones is one of Colombia’s foremost experts in the field of international tax law. She has been President of Colombia’s IFA Chapter, and was, until recently, working as a contractor for the Ministry of Finance as Colombia’s lead international tax treaty negotiator and Colombia’s representative before the OECD for tax matters. In this capacity she was elected as a member of the OECD’s, CFA. In her practice, Ms. Quiñones is recognised for her tax planning abilities, having participated in planning the tax aspects of various multi-million projects (e.g. the Bicentennial Oil Pipeline), and frequently advising multinationals and HNWI’s in matters of international tax planning and estate planning. She is also highly respected as a tax litigator in CIT matters, particularl ...

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