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Tax Justice Now for People’s Recovery!

By Campaign, Global Inequalities

Tax justice groups in Asia are calling for a Day of Action on Tax Justice to be staged on September 23 to demand changes and reforms on taxes and fiscal system with Jeannie Manipon of The Asian Peoples’ Movement on Debt and Development (APMDD) saying that “national tax systems are biased in favor of MNCs and the elites. We can also see the similar pattern in the international tax system”, emphasizing that a progressive mechanism must be put in place in order to allow the removal of the backwards tax and fiscal system.

In an online press conference organized by the Tax and Fiscal Justice – Asia (TAFJA), the combined and resounding messages of speakers stressed that regressive tax policies exemplified by VAT and GST impact women, workers, farmers and other marginalized sectors the most and severely undermine their capacities to prepare for, respond to, survive recover and rebuild when crisis or natural disasters strike. Regressive tax systems, with their elite and gender biases are legacies of colonialism, part of systems that enable countries of the Global North to extract wealth from the Global South.

Read the full press release.

September 15, 2022
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Tax the Rich, Not the Poor!: A Call to Institute A Wealth Tax

By Events, Global Inequalities

“A wealth tax is a potent tool for equality and justice…. Groups based in the Philippines calling for a wealth tax are advocating for one of the most direct ways to stem inequality by reversing the highly regressive tax system that governments across Asia have long depended on to sustain basic public services. Regressive taxes such as Value-Added Tax (VAT) and excise taxes have long been known to hit those with smaller incomes harder, and have thus helped to widen the gap between poor and rich, women and men, marginalized sectors and influential elites.”

The Asian People’s Movement on Debt and Development held a webinar on 24 August 2022, attended by nearly 300 people to release the findings of the study it commissioned recently on “Inequality, Tax Justice and the Philippine Wealth Tax Campaign”. A press release was issued on the same day, making an appeal for the use of a wealth tax in the Philippines and across Asia. Read more here.

September 2, 2022
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Webinar – Wealth Tax for Tax Justice: A Call Whose Time Has Come

By Events, Global Inequalities

Organised by APMDD, the webinar was co-hosted by the Freedom from Debt Coalition (FDC), Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino (BMP), and the University of the Philippines Center for Integrative and Development Studies. Leaders and members of grassroots organizations from various sectors introduced the concept of, and rationale for, a wealth tax as a domestic resource mobilization mechanism for social and economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as for climate change adaptation.

Watch the webinar (via Facebook)

August 31, 2022
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Tax the Rich, Not the Poor!: A Call to Institute A Wealth Tax

By Campaign, Global Inequalities

Webinar “Wealth Tax for Tax Justice: A Call Whose Time Has Come!”

As inequality and poverty grow in the Philippines, in Asia, and across the globe, so too does the call for a wealth tax.

A wealth tax is a potent tool for equality and justice. A wealth tax is a tax on the market value of assets owned by an individual taxpayer rather than on his/her income. Taxable assets may include cash, bank deposits, shares, land, real property, cars, and furniture. By taxing the wealth of high net-worth individuals and not just income, governments will be able to raise more domestic revenues for funding essential public services that are needed so urgently today.

Groups based in the Philippines calling for a wealth tax are advocating for one of the most direct ways to stem inequality by reversing the highly regressive tax system that governments across Asia have long depended on to sustain basic public services. Regressive taxes such as Value-Added Tax (VAT) and excise taxes have long been known to hit those with smaller incomes harder, and have thus helped to widen the gap between poor and rich, women and men, marginalized sectors and influential elites.

Read the full press release here.

August 24, 2022
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Recognizing unpaid care workers through tax and fiscal justice

By End Inequalities, Global Inequalities

The undervaluation of care and care work is reflected in the gross imbalances and gaps in national budgets and lack of publicly funded care services, support systems for care workers, and physical and social infrastructures needed to reduce and redistribute care work. Care – caring for families, communities, and society as a whole – is an essential need and function of any society; it is not “just a woman’s responsibility,” but the collective responsibility of society.

The Asian Peoples’ Movement on Debt and Development (APMDD) advances a comprehensive agenda for tax and gender justice that takes into account the multiple and intersecting layers of discrimination that women in Asia face. The issue brief explains how burdensome Value-added tax (VAT), Goods and Services tax (GST) and Excise tax are to women and all unpaid care workers and has become imperative to advance our five (5) calls and demands.

Download now (English)

 

July 22, 2022
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Global Protest to Fight Inequality 2022

By Campaign, Events, Global Inequalities, India, Indonesia

On 15-22 January 2022, APMDD and its members participated in the Global Protest to Fight Inequality (initiated by the Fight Inequality Alliance). This included activities in Indonesia, India, Bangladesh, Pakistan and the Philippines, around the theme “It’s Time to Tax the Rich”.


Actions ranged from protests by workers and union leaders in the Philippines and dances to the tune of “We Will Tax You” (see Facebook Live stream above), a children’s art exhibit in Pakistan, a human chain in Bangladesh, a package of activities from movie screenings to talk shows, declarations and mural installations in Indonesia, and a discussion forum bringing together around 70 activists, thinkers and leaders in India.

Further details on the actions can be found in this article.

January 24, 2022
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Are You Really the Santa Claus They Say You Are?

By Economic Justice, Philippines, Tax Justice

To the tune of Santa Claus Is Coming To Town, Philippine tax justice groups denounced mining corporations singing “Are You Really the Santa Claus They Say You Are?” in a rally in front of the Bureau of Internal Revenue last November 19.

♫ A bearer of gifts, they say, you are
But what a pittance, they turn out to be ♪
Are you really, the Santa Claus they say…

The campaign for tax justice in the extractive industry in the country is part of an economic justice agenda that includes the call to make taxes work for people and the planet.

November 21, 2021
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