Conclusion and overview of tools CONCLUSION AND OVERVIEW OF TOOLS For states to successfully reduce inequality and poverty, they need to achieve a whole range of goals. A progressive tax sys­tem and, in particular, higher taxes for the rich are an essen­tial part of this effort both at national and international levels. In the past, the global tax justice movement has placed a strong focus on stopping the global race to the bottom in corporate tax, to fight profit-shifting and tax-avoidance on the part of big corporations and to achieve a fairer alloca­tion of taxing rights. One central argument for this is that corporate taxes are negotiated at a global level and at least in low-income countries account for a large share of tax in­come. But for progressive tax systems, corporate taxes are just one part of the story. More recent efforts, such as Oxfam’s commitment to reduc­ing inequality index or the commitment to equity assess­ments that are part of SDG 10, take a broader view of the system of taxes and government transfers. These efforts have collected a wealth of data on national tax and spend­ing regimes which can be be used for the purpose of global comparison. But both are in essence very complex exercises and still do not address the taxes and tax exemptions that matter most for the super-rich. In comparison, a range of nationally-led initiatives in Brazil, the UK, Germany and Colombia have produced different lists of tax privileges for the super-rich with a focus on identifying advocacy priorities towards that goal. Producing such lists – and ideally attaching a price tag and ranking them by priority – requires a detailed understanding of national tax systems. But some of the sources and approaches used could readily be adopted with other countries. For example, tax expendi­ture analyses used in Brazil are available for a range of other countries, and a global database provides a good overview. In addition, calculating tax rates for a typical billionaire or a typ­ical portfolio of a super-rich individual could help render pro­blems inherent in the tax system visible and understandable. Alternatively, estimates of the revenue generated by a wealth tax might be calculated using global figures on the distribu­tion of wealth. Above and beyond the issue of data availabil­ity, this approach might not be equally suitable for countries where overall tax income and compliance rates are extremely low(compare, for example, Oxfam’s Fair Tax Monitor report for Nigeria). With the Fair Tax Monitor, Oxfam has developed another much simpler tool with which to describe, analyse and com­pare tax systems. The goal was to develop an “evidence-based advocacy tool that identifies the main bottlenecks within tax systems and provides strong evidence for advocacy work at national and international level.” This makes a lot of sense. Tax policy is decided at national levels and higher taxes for the super-rich – including a global wealth tax – have to start at national level to ultimately reach international negotiations in forums such as the G20, the OECD and ultimately the UN. And to advocate for fairer taxes and higher taxes for the su­per-rich does not necessarily require a comprehensive and globally comparable assessment of the entire system of tax­es and transfers. Identifying the main injustices or bottle­necks might serve the purpose just as well. And this might be a very national effort. But Oxfam’s Fair Tax Monitor is more descriptive. It uses many indicators that could easily be col­lected at global level and produces a comparative rating that seems rather technical and difficult to communicate at na­tional level. THEREFORE, A VIABLE APPROACH COULD BE TO: a) data with wide global coverage(distribution of income and wealth, composition of government reve­nue and expenditure, structure of tax systems, tax ad­ministration) at a global level, expanding on existing analyses such as Oxfam’s Commitment to reducing in­equality index; b) countries with good data coverage and high mobilisation potential and support the establishment of local analyses and advocacy groups in those countries; c) the global and national data available to identify issues relating to the tax system and illustrate these us­ing a typical billionaire or a model portfolio of a typical super-rich individual that helps to show the effects of the different issues and exemptions identified in the tax system. 27