From a strategic point of view

Last week I had the honor and satisfaction to participate in the 27th assembly of the CREDAF organization. It is the Tax Studies Center of French Speaking Countries, which celebrated the 30th anniversary of its constitution.

Created in 1982, CREDAF associates the African French-speaking countries, as well as Belgium, Canada, Haiti and France.

In this opportunity, even if the topic was more related to technical aspects, such as projects management of information and communication technologies in the tax administrations, during the four-day meeting I could observe a strategic concern of the member countries in relation with the strengthening of this important collaboration forum, through activities reinforcing horizontal cooperation between its members and the international community. There was a unanimous need to strengthen cooperation activities, to create working groups, to exchange experiences and good practices, as well as incentives for human resources training activities.

During the same week that this important French-speaking encounter was taking place, a worldwide event was taking place in Cape Town, South Africa; the OECD Task Force on Tax and Development was holding its 3rd Plenary meeting.

On this occasion, CIAT was represented by our Director of Planning and Institutional Development, Mr. Socorro Velazquez, who immediately informed me of the important decisions that countries and organizations attending this event have approved: the creation, in the short term, of the “Inspectors without borders”, whose main purpose will be the promotion of support in Tax Management issues, especially international audits and taxation, to developing countries.

I could continue talking about the intense international agenda of seminars, meetings, assemblies and conferences hosted by different organizations, but I wish to come back to this blog’s post headline: “CIAT- A glance towards the 50th anniversary!”

As you all probably know, in April we held the 46th CIAT General Assembly in Santiago, Chile. So, in the year 2016 we will be celebrating the 50th General Assembly of our Inter-American Center of Tax Administrations, CIAT, the first organization created worldwide to deal exclusively with tax administration issues.

Just imagine how visionary were those who thought, in 1965, that the time had come to promote cooperation between the countries’ tax administrations. As it is common knowledge, CIAT was created by 17 American countries and today, after almost half a century, it has a membership of 39 countries from four continents.

What future is awaiting us for the next 50 years?

Which challenges will we face, aiming at modernizing tax administrations, looking for fiscal justice and the improvement of tax systems, for fair and equitable taxation?

Are we ready to work in a world in which there will be greater economic dematerialization?

If today we don’t know yet how to audit social networks’ services, and not even the electronic trade of material goods taking place over the Internet, how can we imagine the challenges that we will have to face in ten or twenty years!

Which resources are we going to need, which types of operational infrastructures, which professional profiles, which taxpayer selection system, which collection models?

And, finally, which criteria are we going to use in order to promote a fair taxation of the virtual economy. At the source? At consumption? Mixed?

Similarly, for the commercialized products at world level, if today the multinational corporations already control more than 60% of the world trade, what is going to happen in twenty years? Are we going to reach the desired harmonization of international tax regulations, with the subsequent elimination of the double or triple taxation, or in the long term, for the expansion of tax bases, are we going to compete between countries and come back to watch each other’s feet?

Let’s remember that two or three decades ago the tax administrations which could rely on teams dedicated to international taxation were concentrated in a minority of developed countries. Today even the smallest economies and markets have the concept incorporated into their tax administrations and have added to their agenda the need to deal with international taxation. But, in a realistic view, we are aware that the nations’ practical experience is still below their needs, and there are many obstacles for overcoming these challenges, to the point that we need to accelerate and reinforce all the mechanisms and institutions which seek to promote a better international tax climate.

In this line, as you know, CIAT is intensively working in international forums in order to be the expert leader in tax administration processes. We are continuously improving our technical assistance activities to countries, producing tax studies and collaborating with countries for the development of human talent.

In this regard, just a few months before starting the development of our new CIAT 2013-2017 Strategic Plan, I would be more than pleased to receive contributions from our readers, not only in relation to the challenges that we will face in the coming years, but also with proposals of integrated actions which would allow us to maintain our current position in the international taxation agenda, and it will further help us to model our organization by efficiently working on synergy, cooperation and the coordination of actions between our member countries.

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