The best of times, the worst of times (please give generously!) 

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of light, it was the season of darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way—in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.” 

― Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities  

We are living through two quite distinct, but inseparable tales of tax justice. In one tale, the greatest triumph of all is at hand. But in the other lurks the spectre of catastrophe.   

Two decades of triumph over tax injustice 

Tax is our social superpower. When taxes are effective, they not only raise revenue for crucial public services, but allow redistribution to curb inequalities, repricing to curb social ‘bads’ like tobacco consumption and carbon emission, and above all representation. Yes, tax turns out to be one of the only things that is consistently associated with stronger democracies and more effective political representation. Worth remembering in these turbulent times, as billionaires seek political power for their own, antisocial ends.  

The overarching challenge for tax justice is, as it has always been, to ensure that people are empowered to choose the societies they wish. That relies on people living in states that have full tax sovereignty. And that, in turn, requires international tax cooperation.  

Each year, countries lose around half a trillion dollars from the crossborder tax abuse of multinational companies, and wealthy individuals hiding their ownership of assets and income streams offshore. But we know what the solutions are! Critical measures brought forward by the tax justice movement, including the ABC (automatic exchange of information, beneficial ownership transparency and country by country reporting by multinational companies) have brought literally trillions of dollars of income into the sight of tax authorities for the first time, and increased revenues by billions. 

The real triumph is political 

But none of these steps have been delivered in full. First, because the OECD is fundamentally unjust. This club of rich countries has dominated international rule-setting, claiming for themselves the majority of the benefits of introducing tax justice approaches, largely excluding lower-income countries. And second, because the OECD is deeply flawed. The absence of open decision-making, the effective veto of the United States, and the deeply embedded corporate lobby, mean even within the OECD countries, the adoption of each measure has been so limited and piecemeal, and lacking in the transparency to allow public accountability, that even the very substantial benefits obtained are a fraction of what they could be.  

No, the great triumph is not in the partial adoption of a swathe of once-impossible technical measures. It is instead in the political – and specifically, in the potential to overturn the ineffective and unfair dominance of the OECD, and replace it with a globally inclusive and fully effective forum.  

Such are the failures of the current system, that almost everyone stands to gain from a fundamental fix. The OECD’s member countries would benefit from hundreds of billions of dollars in additional revenue. Lower-income countries would see the largest proportional gains, translating into much greater human impacts – from stronger governance to reductions in infant and maternal mortality.  

And so here is the real triumph: in 2025, for the first time ever, each country of the world sat around the same table to negotiate international tax rules.  

Specifically, countries are negotiating a UN Framework Convention on International Tax Cooperation. The convention can provide immediate progress on key issues, and also create the framework body where Conferences of the Parties will agree new tax rules in future. 

Nothing is won yet, however. The next 18 months will determine the final text. The challenge for the Tax Justice Network, the Global Alliance for Tax Justice and the global movement spanning from climate justice to human rights, is to channel our collective efforts to ensure the opportunity is seized – because if we fail, a hundred years is a long time to wait for a second chance.  

But how could we fail?   

Here’s the thing. With just a few bumps on the road, the global movement for tax justice has been building and growing for two decades now. That’s how we got here – how we have delivered so many policies once derided as ‘impossible’ or ‘Utopian’ onto the global agenda as well as nationally, in countries all around the world. That’s how we were able to normalise the idea of a UN convention as the path to the fundamental reform that is needed, and where the momentum came from.  

But now, as we sit at the cusp of the greatest progress in a hundred years, a threat is looming.  

Money. Or rather, the lack of it.  

This issue runs through the whole negotiations. The secretariat is woefully under-resourced because of the hiring freeze affecting the whole United Nations, and the failure of rich countries to meet their responsibilities – either to the UN itself or to the tax negotiations more specifically.  

At the same time, the tax justice movement has hit a major bump. Funding from governments and major foundations has never been large – but now it is shrinking, fast. Official aid budgets are under pressure like never before. Major US foundations are understandably focused on defending democracy at home. The ‘philanthropy blind spot’ on tax, identified by funders themselves as long ago as 2021, has become an urgent problem. 

Elsewhere, the search for research funding is increasingly desperate, as universities across the global North face tightening budgets – and increasingly malign approaches from a range of governments, not only in the US.   

A range of organisations in the space of tax justice, including the important overlaps with human rights, are now facing budget cuts and sometimes painful restructuring.  

The Tax Justice Network, in common with partners and allies in this space, is an incredibly ‘thin’ organisation. We have no physical office or associated costs. Our people, spread across the world, are our core asset and the great majority of our budget is made up of salaries. (Salaries that are far from excessive, I should add.)  

The effect is that any budget cut translates directly and starkly into cuts to the team. We are in the process of losing eight key members of the team – around 20% of our core staff. And to be clear, these are exceptional people who have been carrying out work of clear strategic value. (Hire them!) It’s not that there were ‘easy’ cuts to make to work that didn’t matter.  

We have focused the restructure on ensuring even greater support to the UN convention negotiations. But we are inevitably weaker as an organisation, just as the process enters its critical, final 18 months.  

With other organisations facing the pinch too, there will be systemic effects on the ability to support the convention – and indeed to push for national and international priorities outside of the negotiations, including wealth taxes and the crucial policies to deliver meaningful climate finance. Not least, the need to focus ever more closely on fundraising, from individual donations to commercial licensing of our data as well as the search for institutional support and bidding for research grants, can only take attention away from the core work of achieving change. 

And so as Dickens put it, we face both a spring of hope, and a winter of despair. The UN convention negotiations may unleash the social superpower of tax in a way that allows fundamental improvements to people’s lives all around the world. But we run the risk of missing this unprecedented opportunity – and all for want of a trivial amount of money.  

The Tax Justice Network’s total budget has never exceeded three million dollars, and has been far lower on average across most of our history. With whatever caveats you might think of, and the most cautious attribution possible, the return on investment in terms of tax revenues has been thousands to one – and possibly far higher. And that goes for the whole tax justice movement too. (Our independent 20-year evaluation has more on this.)  

What is my ask to you, kind reader? There are two – one for each city in this tale. Together they might take us to the best of times.  

First, if you are able, please support our work directly. Individual donations can play an important role in giving us the financial flexibility to respond effectively to the challenges of institutional funding and philanthropy.  

Second, if you are involved with an institutional funder or in philanthropy, please consider the argument for prioritising tax justice at this critical juncture. If it will ever be worth supporting the efforts of our movement, it is surely now – and the window of the UN negotiations is a short one. Do get in touch if we can help to explore how you could provide strategic support.