systems in developed economies are around six times more redistributive than in developing countries (United Nations, 2026, p. 38). Better taxation of transnational corporations Multilateral efforts have focused on corporate taxation in recent years. Key problems include transnational corporations(TNCs) manipulating their books and shifting profits to tax havens to reduce their tax bur­den. This has led to an enormous loss in tax revenue, reaching$500 billion per year(FACTI Panel, 2021). It has also fueled a race to the bottom, where countries or tax jurisdictions reduce their real or nominal tax ra­tios to become more attractive and receive at least some tax revenue. Another problem is that current in­ternational tax agreements tend to favor residence countries(where TNCs have their headquarters) over source countries(where they produce and sell). This is a particular disadvantage for developing countries. Fixing the international corporate tax system is thus key to raising funds. A first step was the agreement made at the OECD to introduce a global minimum tax for corporate profits, albeit at a low rate of 15%. The tax justice movement has called for 25% to ensure TNCs contribute their fair share to public revenue, and to stop the race to the bottom.(In the meantime, an exemption has been granted to companies from the United States, rendering the agreement ineffective.) Many developing countries feel that the OECD agree­ments fail to allocate sufficient tax rights to them. The UN Framework Convention on International Tax Coop­eration negotiations at the UN General Assembly ad­dress some of the flaws of the OECD process. As a body with universal membership, it offers all countries a seat at the negotiating table(in February 2025, the U.S. government chose to withdraw from this process). Taxing the super-rich The new UN process also widened the international tax cooperation agenda to areas beyond corporations, including issues such as environmental challenges and taxation of high-net-worth individuals(HNWIs). HNWI taxation has gained significant traction in re­cent years, thanks in particular to the Brazilian gov­ernment, which put it prominently on the internation­al agenda during its G20 presidency in 2024. At the Fourth International Conference on Financing for De­velopment(FfD4) in Sevilla in 2025, the governments of Brazil and Spain took the lead by announcing plans to form a“coalition of the willing” to tax the superrich. A notable proposal for a HNWI tax was de­veloped by Gabriel Zucman from the European Union (EU) Tax Observatory. Because the superrich pay a relatively low income tax rate, Zucman(2024) sug ­gests that billionaires pay at least 2% of their wealth in tax each year. Most of the tax revenue from such a tax would, however, benefit just the small number of countries where most of the superrich live. Lowering borrowing costs Even with improved tax systems, governments will still need to borrow from banks or financial markets in or­der to finance deficits and, as a countercyclical instru­ment, to sustain fiscal spending during crises when there is a temporary drop in tax revenue. The problem here is that low-income countries, in particular, cannot borrow on affordable terms. The debate about the cost of capital—or the price of money—has gained in im­portance recently, partly because South Africa put it high on its G20 presidency agenda in 2025(Ellmers, 2025). Many institutional and structural reforms could lower borrowing costs and bridge the financial divide between countries that have access to cheap finance and those that do not. An emerging topic is the reform of prudential regulation for banks to remove structural bias against developing countries. Under the current system(Basel III), which was created in an exclusive process by richer countries, banks need more capital reserves when they invest in developing countries, which is why they charge higher interest rates. Recent­ly, the discourse has focused on reforms to the system of credit rating agencies(CRAs) to address disadvan­tages for smaller and poorer countries. The UN Eco­nomic and Social Council(ECOSOC) has launched a series of dialogues on CRA reform, and the first meet­ing took place in March 2026(United Nations, n.d.). International public finance: ODA and beyond ODA – too little and ineffective? Public finance transfers from richer to poorer coun­tries play an important role in creating additional fis­cal space in countries that would otherwise have too little. At the global level, developed countries have a long-standing UN commitment to provide 0.7% of their gross national income as“aid” or ODA to poor­er countries. However, this target has never been achieved. In 2024, ODA only reached US$214.6 bil ­lion, or 0.34% of OECD Development Assistance Financing Development for a Beyond 2030 Agenda 5