Sharing experiences and lessons learned from numerous reforms in public finance management, including those of revenue mobilisation, has been a cornerstone of the Slovak development cooperation for years. In 2015, the country joined The Addis Tax Initiative (ATI) and became part of a broad international network of stakeholders active in the field of tax and development.
The Addis Tax Initiative is a global, multi-stakeholder partnership that aims to promote tax justice, mobilize public finance revenues, build effective tax systems, and fight against tax evasion. One of its goals is to enhance domestic revenue mobilisation (DRM) in partner countries. The ATI builds on the premise that DRM is the most sustainable and reliable source of financing for development.
Global tax debate
The ATI was initiated in 2015 in response to the approval of the 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals, and that is when the Slovak Ministry of Finance joined the initiative as a development partner by pledging to fulfil the ATI commitments. One of the key objectives of the ATI is to integrate partner countries into the global tax debate.
Currently, 20 development partners and 25 partner countries have signed the ATI Declaration. Further, the Addis Tax Initiative accounts with 17 supporting expert organisations, which provide Official Development Assistance to DRM-related projects and contribute to the objectives of the Initiative.
ATI’s endeavours and partners’ commitments for particular periods of time are guided by Declarations (the first one was valid for the 2015 -2020 period). In January 2021, the members approved the ATI Declaration 2025, which contains four objectives for promoting and financing socio-economic development through domestic revenues:
(1) promotion of equitable tax policies, effective and transparent revenue administrations,
(2) maintaining or surpassing the global target (USD 441.1 million) for DRM cooperation,
(3) apply coherent and coordinated policies that foster DRM and combat tax-related illicit financial flows,
(4) enhance space for accountability stakeholders to engage in tax and revenue matters.
Watch Eduard Heger, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance in the Slovak Republic, affirm Slovakia’s support for the new ATI Declaration 2025 in a short video.
Learn more about the ATI at: https://www.addistaxinitiative.net/.