This proposal seeks to ensure equal and inclusive decision-making by all states in developing a coordinated framework on tax cooperation. A UNTC would seek to address systemic tax abuse, including profit shifting by multinational enterprises and wealth concealment by ultra-high-net-worth individuals. These dynamics pressure countries to lower taxes and incentivise a race to the bottom, in addition to depriving countries, especially in the Global South, of critical public revenues. The demand for a UNTC was led by the Africa Group and the General Assembly adopted a resolution in its favour in 2022. Treaty negotiations remain underway. If adopted, the UNTC presents an opportunity to counter harmful tax competition, enhance global tax fairness, and expand fiscal space for countries to finance development and social protection priorities.
Taken together, these measures challenge the limited fiscal imagination that financing the ambitious and urgent social provisioning agenda advanced by the Roadmap would be beyond the capacity of low- and middle-income countries.
