Organized by ICRICT and the Vatican, the gathering united heads of state, Nobel laureates, and activists in a historic push for tax justice.

Vatican, February 13. The landmark event "Tax Justice and Solidarity" organized by ICRICT and the Vatican, gathered heads of state, Nobel laureates, and activists in a historic push for tax justice.
The urgent need for systemic reform has never been clearer. This is a critical moment in history: a new breed of oligarchs has concentrated unprecedented wealth and power, influencing policy, disrupting international cooperation and exacerbating inequality.
Held under the leadership of Pope Francis, the event highlighted the moral and economic imperative for tax justice. Participants called for fairer tax systems that ensure the wealthiest individuals and corporations contribute their fair share to the common good.
In this vein, the event featured powerful messages from Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, and UN Secretary-General António Guterres, as well as the participation of former South African President Thabo Mbeki, former Senegalese Prime Minister Aminata Touré, Nobel Laureate Joseph Stiglitz, ECLAC Executive Secretary José Manuel Salazar-Xirinachs, and leading economists and experts such as Jayati Ghosh, Gabriel Zucman, and José Antonio Ocampo, among others. Their voices underscored the urgent need for global tax justice and systemic reform.

Pedro Sanchez, Prime Minister of Spain said: “We must build on last year's breakthrough on effectively taxing the super-rich. Under Brazil's G20 presidency, we achieved the milestone by bringing the issue to the global stage. (…) If billionaires pay proportionally less in tax than regular people, public trust erodes, and inequality deepens. Second, We must engage constructively in negotiations for a UN convention on international tax cooperation. And third, ee must ensure that corporate giants, regardless of their home country, pay taxes where they generate profits.”

Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, President of Brazil said: “The super-rich pay proportionally much less in taxes than the working class. During Brazil's presidency of the G20, we placed the fight against inequality, hunger, and poverty at the center of discussions. (…) Also at the G20, we approved an unprecedented declaration by finance ministers and central bank presidents on International Cooperation for Taxation, and Brazil has invested in the theme of international cooperation to develop global minimum taxation standards, strengthening existing initiatives, including those targeting billionaires.”

Antonio Guterres, UN Secretary-General said: “The promise to deliver sustainable development goals is slipping away, in large part due to the lack of finance. Taxation is vital to closing not only the finance gap but also the justice and solidarity gap. Yet, countries struggle to mobilize resources. The situation requires a global response. And we are seeing progress from G20 commitments to negotiations on a United Nations Framework Convention on International Tax Cooperation. These efforts are a vital chance to create a framework anchored in inclusivity, essential for legitimacy and efficacy, that supports sustainable development.”

Joseph Stiglitz, ICRICT Co-Chair said “I It's out in the open now. The United States is not going to negotiate a UN framework convention on international tax cooperation. The rest of the world has to work together to negotiate this agreement, recognising the reality that 20% of global GDP will not participate. 80% of the world can get together and work it out.”

Jayati Ghosh, ICRICT Co-Chair said “we must generate is solidarity of peoples across the world to create the pressure for our governments to go to the UN and make the right decisions in the negotiations of the Framework Convention on International Tax Cooperation. We need such public pressure that even the nastiest of governments will feel impelled for their own legitimacy to take the right positions on these matters of tax justice”.

Aminata Touré, Former Prime Minister of Senegal: said “It is my hope that we will all agree that the richest individuals and corporations will pay their fair share through higher taxes on wealth, inheritance, and capital gains. It is also my hope that the principle of unitary taxation and formulary apportionment of all large multinational companies' profits across different jurisdictions, such as at least a 25% global effective minimum tax on the profit of these multinationals, will be adopted. The proposal of a minimum tax on the super-rich, the very rich, and even the rich could also be negotiated as one of the early protocols of the UN Convention, hopefully after an agreement in the G20.”

ENDS

Notes to the editors
• The high-level event, “Tax Justice and Solidarity: Towards an Inclusive and Sustainable Common Home,” was convened by the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences (PASS) and the Independent Commission for the Reform of International Corporate Taxation (ICRICT).
• Video recording of the event in this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qvkR9RJTwgI
• The press release: https://www.icrict.com/presse/its-time-to-tax-power-icricts-message-at-the-vatican-with-pope-francis/

Contact information
Diego Llumá, ICRICT Global Communications Officer
Email: diego@icrict.com
Tel: +54 9 11 6931 9181