Speaking on the Report's release, PSI's Assistant General Secretary Daniel Bertossa outlined how existing measures such as those undertaken by the OECD simply do not go far enough in addressing the broken global corporate tax system. He said:

“The G20/ OECD tax deal will not stop corporations using tax havens to dodge paying their fair share – especially large tech firms. Nor does it allocate the revenue it does collect to the countries that most need it.

ICRICT Co-Chair Jayati Ghosh said: "The Digital Companies of course benefited hugely through the pandemic - and continue to benefit today. Yet they continue to avoid taxes today."

The Report outlines new measures which, if implemented, could raise revenues for governments to use to help address the spiralling cost of living for average people in countries across the world.

Discussing the proposed OECD Tax Plan Nobel-Prize winning economist and ICRICT Co-Chair Joseph Stiglitz said: "I'm very pleased at the adoption of many of the overarching ideas that ICRICT has advanced, yet I am very disappointed about the details that have emerged."

PSI calls on all countries to support a 25% global minimum corporate tax rate and use the increased revenue to ensure that countries in the global south get their fair share based on where real economic activity takes place.

Bertossa said:

It is shocking that even this weak deal is now likely to be blocked by some developed countries in the US and the EU. Countries should not wait. Rather they should consider their own alternative measures, formulated where possible in a coordinated manner, to be actively implemented without delay. Only this can ensure they are able to collect the revenue so desperately needed to fund quality public services and vital infrastructure during this time of crisis.

PSI also noted that there is increasing call for windfall taxes.

"We must ensure those companies that have made massive profits from the COVID, energy and food crisis without contributing anything more to the real economy pay there fair share."

ICRICT REPORT - EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The battle against the global pandemic has left many governments vulnerable, saddling them with massive debts they took on as tax revenues fell, health needs soared, and as they strived to soften the economic blow.

Now developing countries confront spiralling energy and food prices, higher interest rates, and more volatile capital flows: the world is standing on the threshold of an economic slowdown, and the effects are once again disproportionately falling on most vulnerable households, exacerbating poverty and inequality. The question is how to respond.

States have a choice: they can opt for austerity programs, cutting funding to public services and increasing the contribution of the poorest through inflation-enhanced consumption taxes, at the expense, once again, of the most vulnerable. Or they can decide to increase taxation on those who have so far failed to pay their fair share: the multinationals and the super-rich, many of whom have also benefited from the crisis.

ICRICT is calling on governments to implement emergency tax measures, especially on companies profiting from the crisis, to avoid an ever deeper economic downturn and counter unacceptable levels of hunger, extreme poverty, and inequality.

Secondly, rather than waiting for the OECD/G20 Inclusive Framework “global tax deal” to get out of its political impasse, countries should introduce measures to tax large corporations engaged in cross-border and highly digitalized activities and to combat the continuing abuse of tax havens.

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An Emergency Tax Plan to Confront the Inflation Crisis

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