Policy Brief 48, June 2018

Collaboration or Co-optation? A review of the Platform for Collaboration on Tax

By Manuel F. Montes and Pooja Rangaprasad

The Platform for Collaboration on Tax (PCT), launched in April 2016, is an effort to intensify cooperation on tax issues among the staff of the OECD, IMF, World Bank and the United Nations.  The PCT’s stated objectives include the production of joint outputs, strengthening interactions between standard setting, capacity building and technical assistance and sharing information. PCT has since produced toolkits on issues such as tax incentives, transfer pricing, and taxation of offshore indirect transfers. The PCT also held its first global conference in February 2018 at the UN where a concluding ‘conference statement’, negotiated among the four secretariats, was produced.

In a political context where a majority of UN Member States continue to contest international tax standard setting led by the OECD and call for a global negotiation process based within the UN, this collaboration between the four institutions requires a closer look. Increased technocratic cooperation when the process is challenged by a political deficit in norm setting raises critical questions for the institutions involved and the constituencies they represent. This policy brief, a joint publication of the South Centre and the Global Alliance for Tax Justice, will unpack some of these issues pertaining to the Platform for Collaboration on Tax (PCT).

Download the policy brief below:

Collaboration or Co-optation? A review of the Platform for Collaboration on Tax