The ICTD and LoGRI will be hosting a side event at the Second Preparatory Committee Session of the Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development (FfD4). The side event will be held on December 3rd, from 10:00 to 11:30am at the UN Headquarters in New York, in Conference Room A.
Background
The newly released Elements Paper brings forward a much wider range of issues related to domestic tax systems than the Addis Ababa Action Agenda laid out in 2015. While the focus a decade ago was largely on international taxation, illicit financial flows, and tax incentives, the new set of proposals includes more explicit attention to the taxation of the informal sector and high-net-worth individuals, the digitalization of tax administration, gender-responsive taxation, climate and environmental taxes, enhanced subnational taxation, and a range of so-called “innovative taxes”.
On the road to FfD4 in Seville, we believe it is important to discuss how to make the inclusion of these issues as substantive and effective as possible: What role can FfD4 play in framing and setting the agenda in relation to these newer areas of concern? What should the key priorities and messages be?
The event will begin with brief presentations on four areas that now figure more prominently, and in which insights from the ICTD research programme point to successful strategies:
Speakers
- Strengthening subnational taxes: Dr Colette Nyirakamana (University of Toronto)
- Taxing of the informal sector: Dr Vanessa van den Boogaard (Institute of Development Studies, University of Toronto)
- Digitalizing tax systems: Dr Oyebola Okunogbe (World Bank)
- Taxing the wealthy: Dr Wilson Prichard (University of Toronto, Institute of Development Studies)
Discussants
- Dr Amina Ebrahim (UNU-WIDER)
- Dr Caren Grown (Brookings Institution)
- TBC
We will then open into a broader discussion with delegates and experts about how FfD4 can best contribute to building more effective, equitable, and accountable domestic tax systems.
