En bedre økonomisk politik til gavn for miljøet og for den sociale velfærd, kræver at mulighederne for at beskatte energi, transport, byudvikling og den genrelle infrastruktur udnyttes, sagde Alicia Bárcena, eksekutivsekretær i FNs Økonomiske Kommission for Latinamerika og Caribien, ECLAC, ved et møde mellem repræsentanter for EU, Latinamerika og Caribien.
SANTIAGO de CHILE, 10 November 2010: The urgent need to close equality gaps in Latin America and the Caribbean should be complemented by the imperative of attaining low-carbon sustainable development, stated ECLAC Executive Secretary Alicia Bárcena Tuesday in Germany.
The high-ranking United Nations official participated in the Latin American and the Caribbean-European Union Forum (LAC-EU): Fiscal Policy and an Environmentally Sustainable Economy in the Context of Climate Change taking place in Berlin. The event was convened by the Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) of Germany, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Chile and ECLAC.
Public finances in Latin America have a chronic weakness that is reflected in a low tax burden (combined with high levels of tax evasion and avoidance), a regressive tax structure and a heavy dependence on a specific resource for tax collection (copper, oil, agricultural and livestock exports). Diverse demands compete for public resources, producing constant tension among the different options of public spending, says ECLAC.
In this context, climate change and the economic and social costs associated to it are becoming increasingly important, and the trend toward the international homogenization of tax rates, the growing use of “green taxes” and the carbon footprint of exports is of concern.
“A better design of public finances that may expand the she said.
This undertaking faces the challenge of the political economy of taxation, she added, which has to do with interest groups and privileged economic groups in a high-carbon development path. But is also reveals to fiscal policy-makers the consequences of inaction.
