Health versus Wealth? Tax and Transparency in the Age of COVID-19 (Online Event)

28 May 2020 Geneva, Switzerland 28 May - 28 May

Health versus Wealth? Tax and Transparency in the Age of COVID-19 (Online Event)

  • 28 May - 28 May
  • Geneva, Switzerland

This event will feature tax experts, policy makers, academics and a keynote presentation from our General Secretary, Rosa Pavanelli.

The event will help unions understand the issues behind corporate tax reform and build the argument for the Post-COVID-19 economic order.

The event will be held in English with subtitles in French and Spanish.

Thursday 28th May 2020, 13.00 – 15.30 (Coordinated Universal Time)

Lima 8 a.m | Washington DC 9 a.m | Buenos Aires 10 a.m | London 2 p.m | Brussels 3 p.m | Nairobi 4 p.m | New Delhi 6.30 p.m | Manila 9 p.m

Click here to watch the video

Amidst an unprecedented global health and economic crisis, policy makers are adjusting to the resource challenges looming over the global economy. In the Global North and South, the powers of government are being tested to preserve health and livelihoods at all costs.

These costs will be immense and are already constraining how policy makers are able to respond. An expert discussion will consider how to prioritize and identify the reforms and policy innovations on tax and transparency that can secure greater revenue or at least ensure less is lost to secrecy and abuse.

Examining both concentrations of wealth and corporate revenues, speakers will review the potential of proposed reforms.

This event, jointly organized by The Financial Transparency Coalition (FTC), The Independent Commission for Reform of International Corporate Taxation (ICRICT), Oxfam and Public Services International (PSI) will focus on identifying and interrogating actions that have the greatest potential for immediate impact as well as avoiding the risk of poor policy decisions undermining the capacity of governments to manage the crisis. Experts from across the globe will discuss options for action.

The full global economic costs of the COVID-19 crisis are yet to be known, but estimates already run into the trillions of dollars. Over a billion workers are at high risk of unemployment, mostly in low-paid jobs, where a sudden loss of income is devastating. Additionally, the needs of the Global South are often overlooked in crisis discussions and yet, they represent some of the world’s most vulnerable populations. The perspectives and needs of the Global South must be heard and incorporated into the policy responses to the pandemic.

Amidst an unprecedented global health and economic crisis due to the COVID-19 pandemic, policymakers are grappling with enormous resource challenges now looming over the global economy. Meeting these challenges will mean taking actions that might have previously been considered impossible. The COVID-19 crisis will be, above all, a test of leadership, as citizens wait to see how their governments will respond, and whose interests they will put first.

A host of policy proposals are already in play across the globe, some previously under discussion and some previously unthinkable. Many of these proposals seek to increase government income from those with the greatest means, to capture elusive hidden wealth and to recover windfall revenues from corporations profiting from the crisis and longer term advances in technology.

Download the Health Vs Wealth Event's Media Advisory here for more information.