MAKE TAXES WORK FOR WOMEN NOW!

WE NEED MORE THAN A VACCINE SHOT TO SAVE LIVES. Everyday women fight for survival, safety, security, health, justice, and equality. In the face of the pandemic and other crises, the United Nations estimates that for every 100 men pushed to extreme poverty, there will be 118 women falling to the same fate in 2021. Over 527 million women work in the sectors worst hit by the global economic recession; amidst COVID-19 and lockdowns, violence against women, women’s unpaid care work, job loss, and exposure to health risks have intensified.

Tax systems and fiscal policies that privilege and protect the profit-driven interests of corporations and the elite reduce resources for public services and facilities essential for women’s survival, safety, and security –like health, education, food, water, job security, access to justice, land, and other productive resources. Reliance on regressive Value Added Tax (VAT) or Goods and Services Tax (GST) take away a greater share from women’s generally lower incomes and contribute to their impoverishment. Such policies exact a heavy price on women who have little economic security and no government support. Instead, revenues must be raised directly and sharply taxing the wealth and profit of elites and corporations.

We call on governments and policymakers to:

• Reduce unfair tax burdens on women and adopt progressive and gender-just taxation

• Stop tax abuses of multinational corporations and illicit financial flows

• Increase allocation of tax revenues for gender-responsive social services

• Ensure tax and fiscal policies recognize and serve to represent, reduce, and redistribute unpaid care work

• Remove gender bias and discrimination in tax policies and laws 

The Asian Peoples’ Movement on Debt and Development (APMDD) and the Tax and Fiscal Justice Asia (TAFJA) invite tax justice advocates and activists to join the #8for8 campaign calling to MAKE TAXES WORK FOR WOMEN. The #8for8 campaign is an online initiative that aims to raise awareness about tax and fiscal justice issues and their relevance to gender justice. It also seeks to gather participation from gender justice advocates in Asia and around the world to develop a stronger movement for tax and gender justice.