On September 22nd, UBUNTU Forum and GPF co-organized a panel debate on “Innovative Financing for Development.” Speakers included Manuel Manonelles (director of UBUNTU Forum), José Maria Fernández López de Turiso (Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs), Julien Meimon (Leading Group on Innovative Financing for Development), William Pace (World Federalist Movement), Kevin Dance (NGO Committee on Financing for Development) and GPF’s Jim Paul. The debate focused on the introduction of a Financial Transaction Tax (FTT), which could generate resources to fund development and complement traditional development assistance. Introducing a tax of only 0,005% on currency exchange transactions, for instance, would be sufficient to raise over $30 billion per year. Panelists acknowledged the unprecedented willingness among governments and policymakers to establish such a tax. The introduction of a FTT has long ceased to be a utopia: its implementation is economically and technically feasible, and is now a matter of political will. GPF has long advocated for the introduction of global taxes, and published a major policy paper on this topic in 2001. However, Jim Paul and other NGOs representatives warned that governments may try to hijack the revenue generated by a tax such as the FTT to fill their own coffers. The collected funds should be managed in a democratic and participatory manner.
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