Several economists and NGOs called on Friday in Paris to impose at the United Nations level a harmonized system of taxation targeting businesses and households, in order to finance major causes of the future such as the climate.
The current tax system allows multinationals and wealthy households massive tax avoidance, Jayati Ghosh, professor of economics at the University of Massachusetts, regretted to AFP on Friday, following a conference at the school. Economics of Paris (PSE).
Around her, several speakers followed one another to call for an advance in international tax harmonization, which could go through the United Nations which adopted a resolution in November and must now discuss a potential tax convention despite numerous obstacles to it. horizon.
A United Nations tax convention is not just about how we share the pie between countries, but it aims to prevent the pie from being stolen from each of us, Alex Cobham, head of the NGO Tax, said on Friday. Justice Network, which campaigns for fairer taxation, also presented the Paris event.
In addition to the current initiative at the UN, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) is working to harmonize the taxation of multinationals across the planet, as well as a fairer distribution of taxes paid by tech giants.
The international organization adopted an international agreement to this effect in 2021, but it is slow to be implemented by all the signatory countries and even risks being stripped of part of its initial ambitions.
According to French economist Thomas Piketty, quoted in a press release from the Tax Justice Network on Friday, the fruit of a global reform of the tax system could benefit all states depending on their social needs and their exposure to climate change, and include a minimum tax on multimillionaires and multinationals.
This ambition requires an international forum where all regions of the world are represented, added Mr. Piketty.
At a time when public debts are at historic levels and inflation remains high across the planet, the dynamic is stronger today than it has been for a long time to impose tax harmonization, moreover says Jayati Ghosh.