🎥 Session 1 now available - Four Definitions to Change the World: Harmful Tax Practices
“When does a country's tax policy stop being a legitimate exercise of sovereignty & become harmful to other countries' ability to tax fairly, raise revenue, & finance development?”
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Inclusive Framework. Decades later, the OECD process has failed to curb harmful tax practices – triggering the pursuit of a different approach at the UN now underway. From their inception, however, OECD-led initiatives received criticism that the criteria used to identify harmful regimes are self-serving: regimes that affect the bulk of OECD countries are weeded out, yet regimes adopted by OECD countries with detrimental effects on Global South countries are left untouched. Thus, in addition to facing criticism for their unfairness, they also created concerns around their effectiveness. As the UN negotiations of the harmful tax practices commitment have shown, a fundamental reconsideration of the concept of harmful tax practices is long overdue. An inclusive and universal approach to tax cooperation requires new ways to look at the negative spillovers felt abroad from national tax policy making. It also requires more transparency on the local societal costs of harmful tax practices, which are often hidden from the public eye. This panel revisited past efforts, examined how the issue is being addressed in current negotiations at the United Nations, and explored how a more inclusive and effective framework for tackling harmful tax practices might be built, starting with the current formulation of the harmful tax practices commitment in the Framework Convention. Speakers Professor Steven Dean, Prof. of Law, Paul Siskind Research Scholar, Boston University Ms. Marlene Nembhard Parker, Deputy Commissioner General at Tax Administration Jamaica´ Legal Services Division, Co‑Lead of Workstream III (Prevention & Resolution of Tax Disputes) and main delegate for Jamaica at UN Tax Negotiations Senator Hon. Mr Leo Ryan Pinder, Office of the Attorney General & Ministry of Legal Affairs of the Bahamas Moderator Sergio Chaparro-Hernández, International Advocacy and Policy Lead, Tax Justice Network For more on the webinar series: https://taxjustice.net/events/webinar-series-four-definitions-to-change-the-world-struggles-over-meaning-in-the-un-tax-convention-negotiations/ Or for to find out more about the UN tax convention https://taxjustice.net/topics/un-tax-convention/
