Financial Transparency Coalition

Taxation is more than a tool for raising revenue—from a rights-based perspective, it is a powerful mechanism for redistributing wealth, challenging inequalities, correcting discriminatory practices, and realising social, economic and cultural rights. Yet, global tax rules continue to reinforce an unjust economic system, violates the principles of participation and non-discrimination, that is profoundly gendered, extractive, and colonial in nature.

As negotiations for a UN Tax Convention progress and preparations for the Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development (FfD4) take shape, this moment presents a critical opportunity to reimagine tax policy. Our new advocacy brief, developed in collaboration with WEDO, the Financial Transparency Coalition, and Shared Planet, explores how taxation can be progressive, feminist, environmental, and decolonial—advancing justice for people and the planet.

This brief highlights:

• Why tax justice is a feminist, climate, and human rights issue

• How progressive taxation can challenge global inequalities

• Key proposals for taxing wealth, ending corporate tax dodging, and differentiating taxation to tax fossil fuel companies at higher rates to align with the polluter pays principle

• Alternatives to debt-driven solutions for financing development

• Opportunities to advance these demands in the UN Tax Convention & FfD4