GI-ESCR calls on the governments of Chile and Colombia to lead coordination efforts to combat tax havens, fiscal evasion and avoidance
Press release
We have joined Civil society organizations and trade unions in the region to call, within the framework of the United Nations General Assembly, on the governments of Chile and Colombia to lead coordination efforts to combat tax havens, fiscal evasion and avoidance.
We believe that it is politically feasible to promote regional cooperation to combat tax havens.
Within the framework of the Summit of the Americas, which took place in June, civil society organizations and trade unions from Latin America and the Caribbean highlighted the importance of reforming the international tax system to finance a just and green transition for the region , and called on the Latin American countries to articulate a common voice in pursuit of the construction of a new fiscal pact.
It was in this framework that the President of Chile, Gabriel Boric, echoed said statement and called for to move towards a global convention against tax havens. Along the same lines, the presidents of Chile and Argentina expressed their intention to advance in the articulation of a regional strategy on international taxation. Now, with the appointment of José Antonio Ocampo as finance minister in Colombia (who recently chaired ICRICT), we believe that there is a political viability to promote regional cooperation to combat tax havens.
The aforementioned efforts cannot be undertaken from the isolated will of some governments. This must be a historical moment in which a turn is taken in the face of decades of weakness and injustice in the fiscal policies of Latin Americancountries, and a void in the articulation of standards with neighboring countries. Different Latin American countries have begun to adopt progressive fiscal policies at the national level. Now it is also time to take a step toward a regional agreement.
Press contact:
• Magdalena Sepúlveda, Executive Director of the Global Initiative for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (magdalena@gi-escr.org)
• Susana Ruiz, Oxfam (susana.ruiz@oxfam.org)
Link to the previous statement (Summit of the Americas)