New report reviews Nordic tax assistance

An increasing share of Sweden's and other Nordic countries' aid in the tax area is channelled through multilateral institutions such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, IMF.

The report Quality Tax Aid - A review of Nordic countries' support for domestic resource mobilization through multilateral institutions examines how well this aid delivers on the Nordic countries' promises to contribute to fair tax systems. The report is produced by The Nordic Alliance for Tax Justice, which includes Oxfam Sweden and Diakonia from the Swedish side. It is an association of Nordic civil society organisations working together for tax justice.

The report shows that the Nordic countries have a strong commitment, but that there is room for improvement in multilateral assistance to put the commitment to fair tax systems into practice.

Sweden and the other Nordic countries should:

• meet the Addis Tax Initiative (ATI) commitment to increase tax support to developing countries;
   
• ensure that multilateral assistance meets the commitments of the Addis Tax Initiative to contribute to tax systems that promote gender equality and reduce inequality;
   
• prioritise policy coherence for global development in cooperation with multilateral institutions providing assistance to developing countries in line with the ATI Declaration;
   
• strengthen the Nordic exchange of experience and best practice in multilateral cooperation in the tax field.

Facts: about the Addis Tax Initative - for fair tax systems

In the UN's Financing for Development (FfD) agenda, tax is a means to achieve the Global Goals/Agenda 2030. When the Addis Tax Initiative (ATI) was launched in 2015, donor countries pledged to double tax support to developing countries by 2020.
A year ago, a new declaration was adopted with targets to be achieved by 2025, focusing on fair tax systems that reduce inequality. All countries have also pledged to work towards policy coherence, including combating tax evasion. A key new commitment in the declaration is to support people's movements and others who scrutinise those in power and demand that they take responsibility.