The Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development (FfD4), held in Seville from June 30 to July 3 2025, marked an important milestone in the global conversation on economic justice. For the first time in nearly a decade, countries gathered under a UN-led framework to assess progress, confront structural imbalances, and build consensus around financing pathways for inclusive development. From high-level plenaries to cross-regional coalitions, a key theme emerged: the need to mobilise revenues through taxing the ultra-rich and multinational corporations more fairly—and to shift where and how those decisions are made.
At the heart of the discussions was the ongoing push to shift international tax rulemaking from the OECD to the United Nations. The UN Framework Convention on International Tax Cooperation gained further momentum at FfD4, with governments voicing clear support. Their backing underscored the demand for a more inclusive and democratic platform where every country has an equal vote. As ICRICT Commissioner Magdalena Sepúlveda noted, this shift matters because "numbers count" in a multilateral system: every country should have an equal say in shaping the rules that affect global revenue and redistribution.
Moreover, the agreement between the United States and the G7 countries, which took place in parallel to the Conference in Sevilla — allowing the U.S and U.S. multinationals to be treated differently under the global minimum tax rules (Pillar 2 of the G20/OECD agreement) — further reinforced the perception that the OECD-led reform process lacks the inclusiveness and equal participation that a UN-based space can offer.
As ICRICT Commissioners Joseph Stiglitz, Jayati Ghosh and Jose Antonio Ocampo mentioned: “By acceding to US demands, the G7 deal risks undermining the worldwide implementation of the minimum tax. It also makes a mockery of the inclusiveness of the so-called OECD/G20 Inclusive Framework.”
A major outcome of the conference was the launch of the Sevilla Platform for Action, an initiative spearheaded by Spain and Brazil to strengthen taxation of high-net-worth individuals. This “coalition of the willing” type of initiative proposes a whole range of workstreams, from setting global minimum standards for taxing the ultra-rich, working towards developing a global asset registry, to data and research production on wealth concentration, effective tax rates, tax system’s progressivity and the economic and social impacts of extreme inequality. The initiative has already received support from Chile and South Africa, the latter emphasizing that fair taxation is not just a fiscal issue but a matter of sovereignty and global equity.
ICRICT Commissioners backed this momentum. ICRICT Co-Chair Joseph Stiglitz, in a panel with Spain’s Finance Minister Maria Jesus Montero and Chile’s Finance Minister, Mario Marcel, highlighted that “ (...) the rationale for why we ought to be taxing the super rich it's obvious, you don't need to have a Nobel Prize to figure that out (...) the world that we have today taxes them at a lower rate than ordinary people, when they should be taxed at a higher rate (...) one of the things that is so important about this Platform is that it has concrete measures -and there are lots of concrete measures that can be taken- to deal with the tax avoidance that globalization has facilitated. Issues about transparency, issues about a global [asset] registry.”
Speakers from the Global South made it clear: the conversation is no longer about charity or aid, but about power and rights. Senegal’s Former Prime Minister and Justice Minister, Aminata Touré, stated plainly that "we will force the rich to pay" because countries with strategic resources have leverage. She argued that the money must be taken from where it is—not from the poor. Brazil’s Secretary for International Affairs at the Ministry of Finance, Tatiana Rosito, similarly stressed the need for a super-rich tax to complement domestic reforms, calling on other countries to join the Sevilla initiative. South Africa's Deputy Minister of Finance, David Masondo, added that taxes are not just local, they are global—and that the UN process gives developing countries the voice they have long been denied.
Despite growing support for change, significant resistance remains. The U.S. move to undermine the global minimum tax drew strong criticism from economists like Joseph Stiglitz, who warned that such unilateralism "undermines democracy, global governance, and the progress that has been made through the United Nations since 1944." Multinational lobbying, bilateral deals, and power asymmetries continue to threaten hard-won policy gains.
ICRICT was active throughout the conference, with commissioners speaking across panels and high-level forums. Their messages reinforced a central demand: tax the super-rich, hold multinationals accountable, and build rules through a system where all countries—not just the richest—have a say. The Commission’s support for the UN Framework Convention and the Sevilla Platform for Action reflected a growing alignment between expert advocacy and political will from key states.
Looking ahead, the path to implementation runs through multiple forums—from the UN General Assembly and the G20 to the Second World Summit for Social Development (WSSD2). With negotiations on the UN Tax Convention expected to continue through 2027, the years ahead will test whether the commitments made in Seville translate into systemic change.
FfD4 demonstrated that the political appetite for tax justice is growing—but also that progress is fragile. The challenge now is to hold governments to their commitments, strengthen multilateral cooperation, and push forward the frameworks that center equity, transparency, and democratic legitimacy.
ICRICT will continue to be a part of that process, amplifying the voices of those calling for a fairer, more inclusive international tax system that serves people, not just profit.