For three days, those attending the event discussed topics such as the need to increase resources obtained through taxes and how to make more effective use of them with the purpose of reducing social inequalities.
The meeting was inaugurated on May 6 by José Manuel Salazar-Xirinachs, executive secretary of ECLAC, who warned that low economic growth and high financial costs make the execution of tax policies in the area more complex.
When countries have to dedicate three, four and even five points of the Gross Domestic Product to servicing the external debt, the availability of resources to address health, education and infrastructure is reduced, the official said.
Representatives of the Treasury and Finance ministries of 13 governments in Latin America and the Caribbean, as well as experts, leaders of international organizations and academics, participated in the sessions.
Key points were the challenges that the phenomenon of climate change represents today, as well as the characteristics of public spending, the ways to finance it and its priorities with the aim of achieving more sustainable development.
During the seminar, ECLAC presented the report Fiscal Panorama of Latin America and the Caribbean 2024, a tool on how to promote major transformations to the current development model and close gaps in productivity, social and environmental equality.
At the closing ceremony, Daniel Titelman, director of the economic development division of this UN mechanism, pointed out that to improve collection, we must first grow, but at the same time make necessary reforms and improve the fight against evasion and avoidance. .
He also referred to the need to not focus only on domestic policy efforts, but also on international tax cooperation.
Currently, he said, everything that happens on a global level generates, expands or reduces the space for the internal tax measures of each country.
Titelman also mentioned the analysis made on contributions to finance popular benefits, their impact on labor markets and the universalization of social protection.
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