UNITED NATIONS, Feb 14 (APP): Pakistan Thursday called for restructuring the outdated international tax cooperation architecture, saying it has long hampered efforts to mobilize adequate tax revenues.
“Today, the top 10% of the global population holds around 85% of global wealth,” Senator Faisal Saleem Rehman told the Annual Parliamentary Hearing, a joint initiative between the President of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) and the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU).
The topic of the session was ‘Raising domestic resources for the SDGs: A case for tax reforms’.
Senator Rehman said that higher taxes lead to various problems including tax evasion, money laundering and smuggling, which can, in turn, also feed terrorism.
He highlighted the role of parliaments in ensuring better compliance with national and global tax rules by creating a conducive legal and institutional framework, which oversees government action and promotes transparency and accountability.
At the international level, Senator Rehman said, a fragmented global tax system enables base erosion and profit shifting by multi-national corporations, which allows them to exploit loopholes in national tax systems to move profits to low or no tax jurisdictions.
He said that through a proactive role, parliaments can ensure continuous updates of tax laws, establish committees, such as Public Accounts Committees, focusing on overseeing the tax administration and provide a platform for public investigation into tax evasion cases and fraud.
APP/ift