Tax is increasingly seen as a global issue. With the restriction of capital controls a thing of the past, money flows easily across the globe. Profits easily find their way to states with the lowest tax rates. Global tax evasion and avoidance hit $427 billion a year in 2020.
So setting the rules on tax is an exceptionally important job. Until 2022 this sat within the remit of the OECD. The richest nations decided on global tax policies, and everyone else (including the developing world) was expected to follow. Taxation without representation! But in 2022, this started to change. The UN is now in charge.
This might seem like a simple institutional swap but it has the potential to dramatically change how tax is collected and calculated across the globe.
The CEO of the Tax Justice Network covers the role of tax in a modern society and discussed the impact of the UN's new tax mandate.
