Fair, progressive tax system can deliver: minister

LAHORE: Punjab Finance Minister Dr Aisha Ghaus Pasha has said that domestic revenue mobilisation is the only reliable and sustainable resource for countries to fight poverty and finance essential services.

She expressed these views while addressing the 3rd session “Smarter taxation for better gender equality” of First Global Conference on Taxation and SDGs at New York. The UN estimates that a tax ratio of 20 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) is the minimum necessary to finance the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). In Pakistan this tax to GDP ratio increases from 8.7% in FY2012-13 to 10.5% in FY2016-17.

She said awareness of importance of tax as the only reliable long-term resource for sustainable development has been growing in the past few years, in a global context of rising inequality, economic crisis and declining aid flows. A fair and progressive national tax system can deliver a redistribution of wealth, curb inequalities and ensure everyone benefits from economic development. However, developing countries face great challenges in raising enough tax revenue to reduce poverty and fund essential services.

The minister said that the gender implications of a short fall in revenue are significant, but despite women being more vulnerable to poverty and the most in need of essential services, there is still little understanding of the differing impact of fiscal policy, especially revenue rising, on women and men. The first step in this regard is to carry out an informed gender analysis of tax systems, produce more practical studies and to make these studies available to civil society. She added that the quality of the tax mix (that is, where revenue is coming from) is crucial to ensure that an increase in tax revenue does not fall unfairly on the poor. Since women are more vulnerable to poverty, it is crucial to consider the consequences of taxation policy from a gender perspective. For those concerned with inequality, it is necessary to understand the structure of the tax system to see where the burden falls. While answering the questions from annalists Dr Aisha Ghous Pasha said that the gender biases can be explicit and implicit. Explicit gender biases result from specific provisions of the law, regulations or proceedings that deliberately treat men and women differently. Whereas implicit gender bias occurs where tax systems intersect with gender relations, norms and economic behavior. For example, because gender norms assign household and childcare responsibilities to women, women tend to use a larger portion of their income on basic goods such as food and clothing. Systems that tax basic goods may therefore place a heavier tax burden on women, she said and added by virtually every global measure, women are disadvantaged relative to men. Women do the vast majority of unpaid care work such as caring for children, fetching water and performing household chores in all countries. They are overrepresented in poorly paid precarious work, she added. All the speakers and panelist at conference emphasis on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) set ambitious targets for all countries, to end all forms of poverty, fight inequalities and tackle climate change, while ensuring that no one is left behind.