UNGA 78, High-level Dialogue on Financing for Development
Roundtable 1, Segment 2: Promoting inclusive and effective international tax cooperation and mobilizing domestic resources
Delivered by H.E. Margus Tsahkna, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Estonia
20 September, 2023
Honourable President, dear colleagues,
The highlight of this year´s UNGA – the Sustainable Development Goals Summit – reminded us loud and clear that to make collective progress on fulfilling the 17 SDGs, adequate resources are required and fast. This is frankly because the global challenges at hand are enormous and there is a financing and an investment gap.
To resolve this, the private finance and public finance need to work in tandem. When designing tax policies, private sector needs predictability and stability, and governments must take that and also fairness, equity, climate and growth-friendliness as well its administration into account.
However, collecting taxes is only one side of the coin. Public expenditures on public services and social protection also have to be as effective as possible. And all governments need to strengthen governance and anti-corruption efforts and improve accountability to their citizens, to be truly successful in mobilizing domestic resources.
In Estonia, citizens can do their taxes online within a few minutes, which makes the process user-friendly, but also transparent and efficient for all sides involved. Estonia is happy to share our best practices on our digital tax administration system to anyone interested.
Excellences,
On international tax cooperation – it is clear that cooperation is absolutely necessary, especially in areas like exchange of information and dispute resolution. As we know, the negotiating process in the OECD on the OECD/G20 Inclusive Framework on Base Erosion and Profit Shifting has reached its final stage. As over 130 countries have worked very hard for the last 5 years to get to this point, we are eager to cross the finishing line. And once we do cross it, this does not of course mean, that the work is done.
While all governments seek to improve domestic resource mobilization, there are many actors in the world seeking to avoid taxes. Global organizations, including the IMF, OECD, UNDP are sharing information about the different policy and administrative models used over the world, including how to combat tax avoidance. So, we expect that any possible new tax work streams at the United Nations – if so decided – would build on the work already done and not duplicate efforts.
To conclude, today in this room I feel that we have the political will, the knowledge and the means to collectively resolve the SDG financing gap, so that everyone and anyone can prosper. So let’s make it happen.
Thank you!
