TAI Weekly

TAI Weekly|A Momentous Week for Tax Aficionados

By TAI (Role at TAI)
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TAI Weekly

WHAT'S NEW?

Trust is the cornerstone of prosperous, inclusive, and democratic societies. This new IREX report explores the urgency of trust-building, emphasizing the critical role trust plays in fostering social cohesion, economic prosperity, and effective governance.

Rachel Kleinfeld examines recent attempts to limit civic space in the United States and offers strategies civil society can use to hold its ground. All the more relevant with the added heat of an election looming. 

Citizen monitoring as a way to enhance public accountability has become popular globally over the years. But when a political context becomes unfavorable, what does it mean for the practice and characteristics of citizen monitoring? Joy Aceron offers answers from the Philippines experience.

TAI enjoyed a fascinating session on authoritarian trends hosted by USAID last week and featuring the latest V-Dem findings. Watch the launch of the full Democracy Report 2024.

Keseb released Championing Democracy in this Mega Election Year and Beyond: 10 Actionable Insights from Keseb’s Global Summit. The brief concludes with ten actionable items for those in the democracy field. 

Mauricio Cárdenas and Enrique Sanz Posse outline the rise of a new form of populism in Latin America amid growing political polarization. Unlike traditional populism, this version emphasizes presidential power, utilizes street activism, and advocates for a larger state role in the economy while maintaining macroeconomic stability. Is this model sustainable?

Read about an online movement that exposes corruption in Uganda that has rattled some officials.

Secret payments point to corruption in a deal between Chad and Glencore that has proved ruinous for the country’s finances.

Maria de los Ángeles Ramirez and Joseph Poliszuk dig into the illegal gold smuggling network between Venezuela and Brazil in The Lords of Gold. The findings gained widespread attention, sparking discussions on social media, garnering coverage in news programs, and attracting interest from international organizations like the United Nations.

Denise Hearn has written a fascinating primer on the harms caused by market concentration within sectors and across global value chains increasing in recent years.

Dynamics of Community Consultation and Consent is an interactive learning resource using a full database of over 200 articles to take a deep look at the complexities facing local communities in the global energy transition.

The Numun Fund's grantees are a list of feminist tech activists building a movement. Numun Fund was built on shared commitment and growing trust between its founding team members, and the confluence of advocacy on resourcing feminist tech.

ESSENTIAL READING!

On this podcast, Portia Roelofs challenges us to rethink governance drawing on in depth research in Nigeria. The discussion of “social-embedded accountability” especially resonates.

FROM OUR MEMBERS 

USAID: details 5 ways that the Agency is supporting bold action against corruption.

OPEN SOCIETY FOUNDATIONS: announced Binaifer Nowrojee has been appointed the new president with Mark Malloch-Brown stepping down from his role as the transition enters its final phase.

LUMINATE: seeks an Associate to join their Global Programmes team focusing on information ecosystems.

MACARTHUR FOUNDATION: New Director Dale Anglin shares an update with the field on Press Forward, the investment in revitalizing local news.

TOOLS AND TRENDS FOR FUNDERS

Read about the ECOS Initiative that seeks to strengthen critical capacities related to the resilience of organizations, groups, and networks in Mexico and Central America. It is supported by the collaboration of foundations (including TAI members: Ford, Packard, and OSF). 

For all the talk of trust-based philanthropy, concerns over its ability to prove impact, facilitate learning, and evaluate previous approaches are bubbling up. Varja Lipovsek of Co-Impact, believes it is a false dichotomy to pit ceding control against measuring impact.

Recent years have seen a growth in private philanthropy as a source of funding for development. But which foundations are leading the charge? And what are their unique priorities?

Flaviano Bianchini, after almost 20 years of working as an activist in the field, and after almost 12 years of being the founder and director of an international NGO, shares examples of what a donor should NOT do.

ESSENTIAL LISTENING!

The BBC documents the challenges of Freetown’s mayor fighting to improve lives for the Sierra Leone capital citizens and then getting caught on the frontlines of a democratic crisis.

FOCUSED TOPIC OF THE WEEK

It was a Big Week for Tax Geeks

Last week was an exciting one for those working on international taxation with two big convenings.Things kicked off with the OECD's Tax & Development Days, that brought together policymakers, academics, and practitioners to delve into pressing issues, including how the emergence of a global corporate minimum tax is impacting low income countries. There immediately followed a Europe Tax Justice conference convened to deliberate on the ramifications of the UN tax convention. Look for video content of both events to be up soon.

Meanwhile, Black Sands communications firm is looking for your insights on the importance of equitable tax practices in shaping global economic policies. Have you say by responding to this survey. And don’t forget to take TAI’s survey on how to fund fiscal at the same time. 

Highlighting a notable shift in discourse, the IMF made waves with the release of  How to Tax Wealth. It is sparking debate on redefining approaches to wealth taxation in a rapidly evolving economic landscape. Of course, part of the challenge of taxing wealth is to find it, and so it was good to read insights from the Open Ownership and London School of Economics International Inequalities Institute Symposium on Systems of Financial Secrecy. It sought to shed further light on the detrimental effects of financial secrecy, ranging from undermining public funds and fair tax systems to facilitating financial crime. 

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We’d love to hear from you on how we can further improve TAI Weekly to better serve your needs in program management on the transparency, accountability, improved grantmaking and civic space. Please direct your feedback to [email protected] or

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