Tax justice campaigners have criticised the OECD for talking the talk but not walking the walk when it comes to providing assistance to developing countries, with John Christensen, director of the Tax Justice Network, saying “I’m struck by how much froth and how little substance there has been [in OECD initiatives]”.
But now the OECD has launched Tax Inspectors Without Borders, a scheme involving measures similar to those supported by the TJN and other campaigners, with measurable objectives, this could be set to change.
At International Tax Review’s Tax & Transparency Forum in London on May 2, Pascal Saint-Amans, director of the OECD’s Centre for Tax Policy and Administration, engaged with tax justice campaigners on topics such as information exchange, tax transparency and corporate social responsibility, and country-by-country reporting.
In tandem with this initiative, the OECD will set up an independent foundation “that will provide international auditing expertise and advice to help developing countries better address tax base erosion, including tax evasion and avoidance”. That scheme should be operative from 2013.
“Countries helping each other is the only way to effectively fight global tax evasion and avoidance. The idea is quite simple,” said OECD secretary-general, Angel Gurria. “Tax Inspectors Without Borders will match demand from developing countries wanting outside help with complex international tax audits with the supply of international experts, drawn mainly from cadres of tax inspectors serving in other tax administrations.”
Experts from around the world will share their best practices when it comes to tax collection, and help to develop a framework for enhancing the ability of emerging countries to carry out efficient audits, among other measures.
“Joint teams will operate under the local leadership in each country, based on a learning-by-doing approach,” said Gurria.
The next stages of the scheme will be pivotal in determining its success, with a review due next year.
“The Tax and Development Task Force should now mobilise the best experts and make them available to developing countries and get the Tax Inspectors Without Borders secretariat in place so the work can begin in earnest from 2013,” said Oupa Magashula, commissioner general of the South Africa Revenue Service, who championed the initiative alongside Saint-Amans and Nhlanhla Nene, South Africa’s deputy finance minister.
