The Second Committee hosted a meeting on the Addis Ababa Action Agenda of the Third International Conference on Financing for Development. This agenda provides a foundation for implementing the 2030 SDGs, and it aims to foster universal economic prosperity.

    The meeting began with opening remarks from the co-chairs of the Second Committee. His Excellency Oh Joon discussed the policy aspects of the Action Agenda. He stated that taxation represents a stable and predictable source of finance, and that it is central to financing provision of public goods and services in developing countries. Finally, he explained that fiscal policy represents a social contract between the state and its citizens.

    His Excellency Andrej Logar highlighted the importance of domestic resource mobilization and international support. He also agreed with His Excellency Oh Joon on the belief that taxation is critical to financial sustainable development. He explains that there is evidence of high return in a tax collection system for developing countries, and gives the example of Kenya, which was able to increase its tax revenue from 52 million dollars in 2015 to 85 million for the following fiscal year.

    After the introductory remarks followed keynote addresses by panelists. One notable speaker was Professor David Rosenbloom, who teaches at the NYU School of Law. He has worked in the field of taxation for 47 years, and specifically international taxation for 38 years. He explains that governments need money, and taxation far beats debt financing or devaluing currency in terms of efficiency. An income tax system has three goals: efficiency in interfering as little as possible of economic choice, fairness in that taxpayers have impressions that they are treated no less fairly than everyone else, and simplicity so that tax laws could be understood.

Meeting: Joint meeting on “Domestic Resource Mobilization: Where to go after Addis?”

Date/Location: Wednesday November 11, 2015, 10:00 – 13:00; Conference Room 2

Speakers: His Excellency Oh Joon (Republic of Korea), President of the Economic and Social Council; His Excellency Andrej Logar (Slovenia), Chair of the Second Committee; Mr. Alexander Trepelkov, Director, Financing for Development Office, Department of Economic and Social Affairs; Professor David Rosenbloom, James S. Eustice Visiting Professor of Practice and Taxation, and Director, International Tax Program, New York University; Ms. Victoria Perry, Assistant Director and Chief, Tax Policy Division, Fiscal Affairs Department, International Monetary Fund; Ms. Blanca Moreno-Dodson, Lead Economist for Tax Policy, Macro and Fiscal Management Global Practice, World Bank; Ms. Gail Hurley, Policy Specialist on Development Finance, Bureau for Policy and Programme Support, United Nations Development Programme; Mr. Tatu Ilunga, Senior Policy Advisor, Tax and Extractive Industries, Oxfam America; Mr. Eric Mensah, Assistant Commissioner, Ghana Revenue Authority, and Member, United Nations Committee of Experts on International Cooperation in Tax Matters (via telephone or video link)

Written By: WIT Representative Kangho (Paul) Jung

Edited By: WIT Representative Alex Margolick

Photo Credit: REUTERS/Stoyan Nenov