The International Tax Task Force is a hub for coalitions of countries to come together to explore how to implement progressive tax options to generate new sources of urgently-needed climate and development finance.

• Co-chairs: France, Kenya, and Barbados
• Members: Antigua & Barbuda, Spain, Marshall Islands, Ireland, and Colombia
• Observers: European Commission, IMF and UN

The task force was officially launched at COP28 in Dubai in 2023 by France, Kenya, and Barbados.

The task force will focus on fostering political will and creating coalitions of willing countries to advance various options for international taxes. 

It will look at options that have the potential to mobilize finance at scale while bringing more climate justice and fairness to our current financial system, by ensuring the most polluting industries (fossil fuel extraction, aviation, shipping and financial services) and people contribute to financing the fight against climate change and inequalities.

By 2030, developing countries excluding China must mobilize USD $2.4 trillion of public revenues each year to ensure they remain on track to meet the objectives of the Paris Agreement. Implementing global climate taxes would provide a sustainable and predictable source of revenue to support their transition, and that is why this initiative can play a crucial role in a just transition to net zero.

We must ensure that our global financial system better reflects the current needs of society, rather than those rooted in the mid-20^th century when it was first established. Many heavily polluting industries have been historically protected from taxes and haven’t paid their fair share in our collective work to transition to a net-zero economy. We are providing them with a means and opportunity to do so.

Target sectors could include major contributors to greenhouse gas emissions, such as oil and gas companies, heavy industries, aviation, and maritime shipping, as well as the financial sector.

There is the precedent of the Unitaid airline levy, where countries from around the world (such as Mali, Mauritius, Chile, Brazil, Korea and France) have been using the tax proceeds to fill a particular gap in global health spending (paying for a mechanism to squash drug prices). On average, low-income countries that participate in this airline tax scheme receive 10 times more than what they pay into it. For this reason, many NGOs and think tanks that support the V20 and the Bridgetown Initiative are also supporting the International Tax Task Force.

There are no specific criteria to join the task force. Countries joining only have to show that they are politically willing to support one or several of the taxation options put on the table and be willing to help push the tax agenda whenever possible to adopt these new taxes in a fair and equitable way that will raise as many additional resources as possible. 

The potential revenue will be explored in detail in a rigorous research and consultation phase, and through specific impact studies into each tax option.
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Existing research has shown that levies could raise:

• Financial Transaction Tax: a 0.1% tax on the trading of stocks and bonds could deliver up to $418 bn per year on a global level ( WIFO 2019 study). 
• Levy on aviation: an aviation levy could raise up to $150 bn per year on a global scale ( CAN-Europe 2023).
• Levy on maritime shipping: a levy of $150/ton C02 would raise up to $80bn for a year ( IDDRI 2023 and one of the official proposals).
• Fossil fuel tax:
  • A fossil fuel extraction levy of $5/ton C02 would raise $210 bn per year rising to an average of $300bn per year by 2050 - assuming significant reduction in demand and an increase of the tax rate of $10 per ton annually to reach $250 a ton by 2050 ( Stamp Out Poverty 2023).
  • A tax on windfall profits of 10% would have raised $300 bn in 2022 as net income for fossil fuel producers in 2022 was $4 trillion with an implied windfall profit of $3 trillion globally ( World Energy Investment 2023).

ECF manages the Secretariat of the International Tax Task Force to support the country co-chairs and members.

The Secretariat is co-led by Laurence Tubiana and another high-level figure from another region.