Don’t throw the baby out with the bath water: Making Wealth Taxes Work in Developing Countries
By Anne Wanyagathi Maina
As debt burdens rise, fiscal space narrows, and inequality rises, developing countries continue to struggle to finance development needs without resorting to regressive taxation or triggering social unrest. In this context, wealth taxation is gaining renewed attention as an alternative. This policy brief explores the relevance and feasibility of net wealth taxes in developing countries, reviewing the implementation experiences in Latin America and Africa, as well as key criticisms and objections, which range from efficiency concerns, administrative challenges, limited revenue yield, to political resistance. The brief argues that these challenges can be overcome through a well-designed wealth tax supported by international cooperation and domestic reforms to improve capacity and transparency. It calls for more research from a developing-country perspective on the effectiveness of such taxes and urges governments to pursue carefully designed wealth taxes aligned with national priorities to support progressive and sustainable revenue mobilization.
ECOWAS Commission and the South Centre Congratulate the Liberia Revenue Authority and National Revenue Authority of Sierra Leone on the Signing of the Memorandum of Understanding Operationalizing the Simultaneous Tax Examination
Abuja and Geneva, 22 June 2026
The South Centre and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Commission congratulate the Liberia Revenue Authority (LRA) and National Revenue Authority (NRA) of Sierra Leone on the signing of an MoU operationalizing the Global South’s first Simultaneous Tax Examination.
This landmark exercise, where two national tax administrations join forces to audit the same Multinational Enterprise, has significant revenue potential for Liberia and Sierra Leone, common Member States of the South Centre and ECOWAS.
The South Centre’s Contributions to the Reform of the International Tax System
By Abdul Muheet Chowdhary
The South Centre has, over the last 30 years, contributed to major reforms to the international tax system to make it fairer and more equitable for developing countries. Some of the key impacts relate to the UN Framework Convention on International Tax Cooperation and updates to the UN Model Tax Convention to strengthen developing countries’ taxing rights on automated digital services, shipping and air transport, services more broadly, extractive industries, insurance premiums, computer software, offshore indirect transfers of capital gains, the subject to tax rule and wealth taxes. The South Centre also produced pioneering revenue estimates for its Member States on the UN and OECD solutions for taxing the digital economy.
27 TH SESSION OF THE INTERGOVERNMENTAL WORKING GROUP ON THE RIGHT TO DEVELOPMENT (21 MAY 2026, PDN-TEMPUS)
Panel: Tax-related illicit financial flows and the right to development
South Centre Intervention
The South Centre’s spoke at the United Nations’ 27th Session of the Intergovernmental Working Group on the Right to Development on a panel discussion on tax-related illicit financial flows and the right to development.
Key points:
– The UN Framework Convention on International Tax Cooperation (UNFCITC) must include tax avoidance in the definition of tax-related illicit financial flows (TIFFs)
– UNFCITC must also include an effective monitoring mechanism so progress on reducing TIFFs can be measured
– Public Country by Country Reporting (pCBCR) of tax paid is a key component of the fight against TIFFs and the South Centre is taking various actions to promote pCBCR
– UNFCITC’s second protocol’s tools on dispute prevention like joint audits have huge potential to reduce TIFFs
– UNFCITC’s Conference of Parties will play a central role in ensuring effectiveness and must be well designed.
STATEMENT BY DR. CARLOS CORREA, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF THE SOUTH CENTRE, TO THE MINISTERS AND GOVERNORS MEETING OF THE INTERGOVERNMENTAL GROUP OF TWENTY-FOUR (G-24)
14 April 2026, Washington, D.C.
See the South Centre’s statement to the G-24 below.
A Regional Tax Cooperation Initiative Under the ECOWAS Framework
The South Centre is supporting two of its Member States, Liberia and Sierra Leone, in implementing a pilot Simultaneous Tax Examination on Multinational Enterprises (MNEs), in partnership with the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Commission. The pilot, which can generate potentially substantial tax revenues, will operationalize the ECOWAS Supplementary Act on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters. The pioneering pilot, potentially the first of its kind in the Global South, will develop audit capacity, generate domestic revenue, and build a model that can be scaled across other Member States of the South Centre and ECOWAS.
Read more in the press release jointly issued with ECOWAS and the governments of Liberia and Sierra Leone (également disponible en français/também disponível em português):
South Centre Inputs to the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee on the UN Framework Convention on International Tax Cooperation
The Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC) on the United Nations Framework Convention on International Tax Cooperation (UNFCITC) released three documents in January 2026 to inform negotiations at its Fourth Session, held in February 2026 in New York:
Co-Leads’ Concept Note (23 Jan 2026) prepared by Workstream III, presenting potential design features for dispute prevention and resolution protocol mechanisms.
The South Centre submitted inputs on the three documents on February 26 and March 6, 2026, following a call for input by the INC. The submissions are reproduced below:
OECD Two Pillar Solution: Designed to Prevent the Offshoring of High Tech Production to the Global South
By Abdul Muheet Chowdhary
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Two Pillar solution is a tool of the developed countries designed to: a) prevent Multinational Enterprises (MNEs) in frontier technologies like clean energy, computing, semiconductors, etc. from offshoring production to developing countries, and b) minimize Global North MNEs’ taxable profits in developing countries. The recent exemption of the United States’ MNEs from certain aspects of the OECD Global Minimum Tax further strengthens these objectives. South Centre Member States and other developing countries should resist pressures to adopt the Two Pillar solution and make informed, evidence-based decisions, while considering the benefits of other simpler and more beneficial alternatives.
G20 Critical Minerals Deal: A Step Toward Equity or a New Extractive Frontier?
By Touba Esfahani Nejad
This paper examines the Group of Twenty (G20) Critical Minerals Framework adopted under South Africa’s Presidency and the extent to which it represents a shift toward more equitable mineral governance. It analyses the Framework’s key pillars and political commitments alongside the Johannesburg G20 Leaders’ Declaration, assessing their implications for mineral-rich developing countries, importing economies, refining hubs, and the G20 itself. The paper pays particular attention to gaps between stated ambitions and practical constraints having in view financing, technology transfer, and the policy space under the World Trade Organization (WTO) rules. It concludes by identifying the conditions under which the Framework could support real value addition and industrialization in the Global South rather than function as a supply-security tool for advanced economies.
Taxation of digital services – A Domestic Law Solution for Overcoming Tax Treaty Barriers
By Radhakishan Rawal
Tax treaty treatment of source taxation of cross-border services continues to be an unresolved issue even fifteen years after it was recognized as a major issue within the Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) Project. While the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Inclusive Framework’s Amount A of Pillar One does not seem to be getting finalised, at the United Nations (UN) an Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC) is working on a UN Framework Convention on International Tax Cooperation which will offer a solution to the issue. The success of the UN’s initiative will depend on how many developed countries sign the Framework Convention and relevant Protocols.
This article evaluates a Domestic Law Solution to the issue which was presented at the February 2026 session of INC at New York. As per this solution, the domestic law of the source country can define the term “profits of an enterprise” to exclude consideration for digital services and thus bypass treaty restrictions on source taxation. As a result of this, the source country will be able to levy tax on such income in terms of Article 21(3) of the tax treaties signed by it provided the wording of Article 21(3) is identical to that in the UN Model Tax Convention.
Why Is the Oligopoly in the Credit-Rating Market So Tenacious?
By Yuefen Li
International Banker article,
Large, established credit rating agencies (CRAs) wield immense influence and power over the global financial system and the world economy as a whole. In normal times, CRAs can significantly impact financial markets, financial-instrument issuers’ behaviors and investors’ perceptions, thus constituting a major determinant of the cost of borrowing and the direction of the money flow. During economic downturns, rating downgrades can become self-fulfilling, as herd behavior amplifies the effects of ratings. A downgrade by a major ratings agency can make or break an entire economy, as witnessed during the European debt crisis. The then prime minister of Greece accused the ratings agencies of “seeking to shape our destiny and determine the future of our children.” …
The South Centre has made a submission to the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee of the United Nations Framework Convention on International Tax Cooperation on the draft Framework Convention’s commitments, and Dispute Prevention and Resolution protocol.
The contribution addresses the priorities and perspectives of developing countries in promoting inclusiveness, fair allocation of taxing rights, stronger transparency standards, and effective and accessible dispute prevention and resolution mechanisms.
