JEJU ISLAND, Korea—Former Department of Finance (DOF) Secretary Cesar V. Purisima is urging countries most vulnerable to the impact of climate change to impose taxes on goods that are harmful to the environment, in a bid to fund the achievement of inclusive green growth goals.
Purisima said countries might forge an agreement on the imposition of carbon tax across the world, where they could use the proceeds for the implementation of Sustainable Development Goals (SGDs).
“If we are serious, and I guess we are getting more serious about threats that climate change poses to us, then actions like these are necessary, if we really need to make this [SDG] a reality,” he said in a panel discussion during the annual conference of the Green Growth Knowledge Platform (GGKP) held here on Wednesday.
Purisima believed that official development assistance (ODA) is “not sustainable” to finance ambitious targets set under SDGs, as well as major international platforms Paris Agreement on Climate Change and Addis Ababa Action Agenda.
Equity and inclusion are integral to half of the SDGs and these commit countries to ending extreme poverty by 2030, while the Addis accord provides the path for financing these initiatives.
The Paris Agreement also provides a mandate to take greater action to support the poorest and most vulnerable countries in the response to climate change.
To impose carbon tax, the former finance chief said countries can adopt an agreement on harmonizing taxes.
“Generally, across the globe, AMLA (Anti-Money Laundering Act) is being implemented. Why can’t we have an agreement like that on carbon taxation if we are serious about this matter given the challenge before us?,” Purisima added.
Apart from slapping carbon tax, Purisima also proposed that countries develop a global convention on tax identification number (TIN) to tackle corruption through addressing illicit financial flows.
“There must be convention on the structure of tax IDs, mutual recognition, data sharing and at the same time make the TIN a requirement for the movement of funds and goods just like the requirement of passport for the movement of people,” he said.
“If you do so, that really means that we mean business in curbing corruption and illicit flows which is really is a major cause of leakage in the global system. And if the countries are able to capture that, then there will be more resources in the table for this ambitious agenda,” he added.