{"id":56137,"date":"2024-07-22T14:16:06","date_gmt":"2024-07-22T14:16:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/africa\/?p=56137"},"modified":"2024-08-16T12:38:00","modified_gmt":"2024-08-16T12:38:00","slug":"why-we-need-new-global-tax-rules-that-work-in-the-peoples-favour-and-not-the-multinationals-and-ultra-rich","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/africa\/en\/blog\/56137\/why-we-need-new-global-tax-rules-that-work-in-the-peoples-favour-and-not-the-multinationals-and-ultra-rich\/","title":{"rendered":"Why we need tax rules that work for people like me (not multinational corporations and the ultra rich)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

As we stand on the cusp of a historic moment, the final negotiations of the content in the new UN Tax Convention, happening later this month, offers a pivotal opportunity to reshape global economic structures in favour of fairness and wellbeing for the majority. The discussion about new global tax rules is a chance to build a world where economic justice and wellbeing are at the forefront of global policy.<\/p>\n\n

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Coming from a rural part of South Africa, Lehurutshe, near the border of Botswana and growing up in a household where both my parents were teachers earning a humble salary, I saw firsthand the sacrifices of my parents and the struggles of my community to provide their children with the basics. The students at the schools that my parents taught at, had even less, while billionaires fly their private jets from city to city, evading taxes that they should rightfully be paying<\/a>! <\/p>\n\n

Governments must get their priorities straight. Piling taxes on the average person while multinationals and the ultra-rich get away with not paying their fair share<\/a> is not the solution for governments to make the money needed for education, water, health and climate action.  Such inequity in the taxation system only serves to perpetuate inequality and hinder the future prospects of generations like mine and those to come. Recent protests in Kenya highlighted people\u2019s increasing frustration with unfair tax policies that disproportionately burden those already struggling.<\/p>\n\n

Join us in rewriting the rules for a better, more equitable world. Together, we can ensure that this convention marks the beginning of a new era of economic justice and sustainability.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n

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SIGN THE PETITION TODAY<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n

The rise in inequality<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n

Extreme concentration of power and wealth is a significant challenge of our time. Each year, an increasing share of global wealth ends up in the hands of a few<\/a>, exacerbating economic and political inequalities, undermining democracies, and limiting access to basic services. Recent statistics show that global public debt<\/a> has reached a record $97 trillion. This means that 3,3 billion people, more than 40% of the world\u2019s population, live in countries where their governments are forced to spend more on public debt interest payments than basic services like education or healthcare. It doesn\u2019t have to be this way!<\/p>\n\n

Opportunity to change the unfair global tax structure <\/strong><\/h2>\n\n

The current global tax structure, dominated by a small group of wealthy countries and powerful multinational corporations, allows for tax evasion and abuse. It\u2019s morally indefensible that billionaires – a group disproportionately responsible for the climate and biodiversity crises – are afforded tax breaks while those most impacted by environmental damage carry a higher tax burden.<\/p>\n\n

But this year, a new UN tax convention is being negotiated, thanks to a group of African UN member states who made history in March 2023 by declaring the existing global tax structure unjust and demanding change. This is a historic opportunity to fix unfair global tax rules by transferring decision-making power from a few rich OECD (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development) countries to ALL the member states of the UN, where EVERY COUNTRY HAS A VOTE<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n

Reforming the outdated and unfair global tax structure can help reclaim the US$480 billion dollars lost due to tax abuse every year.<\/a> And instead put funds to good use building a future where everyone enjoys access to essential services and ensuring our planet is protected for future generations. Taxing the super-rich and the mega polluters, rather than the poor, aligns with environmental justice principles and ensures those responsible for environmental damage bear the greatest responsibility. It\u2019s about time!<\/p>\n\n

Let’s work together to bring the majority’s wellbeing to the forefront of global policy. It’s time to dismantle old colonial structures and build a fairer future for all. I urge you to take a stance today and support taxing those who can afford it and deserve to be held accountable for the pollution and other atrocities they perpetuate in our world.<\/p>\n\n

Help make this happen – TAX POLLUTERS AND THE ULTRA RICH!<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n

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SIGN THE PETITION TODAY<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n

<\/p>\n\n

Amrita Ranjit, Social Media Specialist at Greenpeace Africa<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As we stand on the cusp of a historic moment, the final negotiations of the content in the new UN Tax Convention, happening later this month, offers a pivotal opportunity to reshape global economic structures in favour of fairness and wellbeing for the majority. The discussion about new global tax rules is a chance to build a world where economic justice and wellbeing are at the forefront of global policy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":62,"featured_media":56262,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"p4_og_title":"","p4_og_description":"","p4_og_image":"","p4_og_image_id":"","p4_seo_canonical_url":"","p4_campaign_name":"","p4_local_project":"","p4_basket_name":"","p4_department":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[31,46],"p4-page-type":[126],"class_list":["post-56137","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-inspirethemovement","tag-activism","tag-greenpeaceafrica","p4-page-type-blog"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/africa\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56137","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/africa\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/africa\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/africa\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/62"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/africa\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=56137"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/africa\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56137\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":56266,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/africa\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56137\/revisions\/56266"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/africa\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/56262"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/africa\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=56137"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/africa\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=56137"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/africa\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=56137"},{"taxonomy":"p4-page-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/africa\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/p4-page-type?post=56137"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}