We are continuously being told that we don’t have enough resources to address the problems that we face in the world. At the same time we are “bombarded” with news of the latest records in billionaire fortunes and corporate profits. You might ask yourself, why can’t these resources be used to solve those problems? Why don’t we have a fair tax system that allows this to happen?
Tax is a crucial part of the story of global injustice. Because of the global tax rules and in particular the exploitation of loopholes in tax systems by ‘aggressive’ tax planners and ‘creative’ accountants, many governments are prevented from having enough revenue to meet the needs of their citizens.
Unfortunately, many people hear the word tax and recoil , it seems dense, boring and perhaps a topic best left to the ‘experts’. This short course entitled Tax Injustice in the Global South – Causes, Consequences and Solutions will help you to understand just what tax is, why it is so important, the barriers to fair tax collection, and what might be done to help solve tax injustice globally.
While the course covers issues and debates relating to tax and tax justice, in the Global North and the Global South, the overall purpose is to show the numerous methods by which countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America are ‘short-changed’ by the global governance rules which underpin today’s global tax structures.
- Why do multinational corporations (MNCs) not pay their fair share of taxes?
- Why are countries competing with one another on tax laws in order to attract investment, resulting in a ‘race to the bottom’ on corporation tax?
- Why do developing countries lose more in tax dodging than they receive in aid?
- And more importantly, what can be done about it?
This short-course includes a guide to some of the solutions being proposed to create a fair global tax system, on issues from transparency, information sharing and accountability, to the role of multilateral institutions in enforcing new rules.
The purpose of our course is to provide an overview of tax for educators and facilitators who wish to provide training to adult learners or school-leavers on the subject of tax justice. In our Activities for Adult Learners section, you will find a step-by-step guide to introducing adult learners to the topic of tax and tax justice, using a range of active learning methodologies. This is intended to strengthen the confidence and knowledge of facilitators who wish to carry out workshops or training about tax with adult learners.
