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Why New International Taxes for Development Are InefficientIFD is a collection of disparate spending projects,organizations and financing mechanisms in thefield of development assistance. Their commondenominator is that they are different fromtraditional development aid. The World Bankrecognizes the difficulty of defining the concept:There is no internationally agreed definitionof “innovative financing for development”. Inreality, the term encompasses a heterogeneousmix of innovations in fundraising and innovationsin spending, i.e. innovative financing fordevelopment comprises both innovations inthe way funds are raised as well as innovationsin the ways funds are spent on internationaldevelopment. 11On the spending side of IFD, a number ofinternational projects and agencies have beencreated. The most important are: 12 Immunization or IFFIm (founded in 2006)raises funds on the capital market to financeGAVI. as the Global Alliance for Vaccines andImmunization and now sometimes called the“GAVI Alliance,” subsidizes vaccination ofchildren in poor countries. It is often thoughtof as an NGO but is in fact an internationalgovernmental organization. Its board is madeup of the World Bank, the World HealthOrganization (WHO) and UNICEF, plus fiverepresentatives of governments of developingcountries and five of donor governments. It isthe only member of IFFIm. distributes funds to fight AIDS, tuberculosisand Malaria in developing countries. in 2006 to channel the revenue from an airlineticket tax (see below) to the diagnosis andtreatment of HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, andmalaria in developing countries. More thanhalf of its revenue comes from the airline tickettax in France; the rest comes from “voluntary”contributions from other countries, as well asfrom the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.The field work is done by field partners, whichinclude international health organizations (aswell as the Clinton Foundation). UNITAID’schairman describes his organization as “averitable laboratory of innovative financing fordevelopment.” 13IFD initiatives implemented thus far focusmainly on health and especially childhoodimmunization and the fight against HIV/AIDS.Some IFD financing has also gone to environmentalprotection.,,IFD initiatives implemented thusfar focus mainly on health and especiallychildhood immunization and the fightagainst HIV/AIDS. Some IFD financinghas also gone to environmentalprotection. ,,On the financing side of IFD, many differentmechanisms are used. The United NationsDevelopment Programme (UNDP) distinguishesfour broad categories: 141) Taxes, dues or other obligatory charges:These are taxes under different names,and include the current “solidarity levy onair tickets.” The other current IFD tax isthe portion of the sales of EU allowances(permits to emit carbon dioxide) that theGerman government devotes to climateprotection in developing countries. 15Other international taxes are beingconsidered, such as financial transactiontaxes, carbon taxes, and a “solidaritytobacco contribution.”11. Quoted in UNDP (2012), p. 7.12. See Sandor et al. (2009) and UNDP (2012) for a summary. See alsoCour des comptes (2010), pp. 65, 109, and passim; Fan and Silverman(2012).813. UNITAID (2011), p. 1.14. UNDP (2012). See also Sandor et al. (2009), Girishankar (2009), andOECD (2011). These categories are not always mutually exclusive.15. Girishankar (2009), p. 59; UNDP (2012), p. 15.Montreal Economic Institute
Why New International Taxes for Development Are Inefficient2) Voluntary solidarity contributions:These are private initiatives, encouragedand facilitated by governments, wherebyprivate companies allow their customersto voluntarily contribute to the financingof international development projects.“(Red),” for instance, is a licencedtrademark that tells consumers that theproducer gives 50% of its profits for goodsso tagged to the Global Fund for thepurpose of fighting HIV/AIDS. 163) Frontloading and debt-based instruments:The International Finance Facility forImmunization (IFFIm) issues bonds oncapital markets that are guaranteed byfuture official development assistancecommitments from eight donorgovernments. The World Bank issues bondsto finance development or climate changeadaptation and mitigation projects. 17 Donorgovernments may also reduce the debts ofdebtor governments as a way for the latterto finance health expenditures (through theGlobal Fund, for example). 184) State guarantees, public-private incentives,insurance and other market-basedmechanisms: Under this title, UNDPincludes different forms of subsidies—forvaccines, for pollution reduction in developingcountries, for insurance againstnatural catastrophes, etc. 19IFD financing mechanisms have raisedrelatively little money thus far, but estimates varywidely depending on what counts as IFD. Theyrange from US$6 billion to US$57 billion between2000 and 2008, 20 compared to US$133 billion inofficial development assistance for 2011 alone.According to a World Bank study, less than 7% ofdevelopment assistance is financed by IFD. 2116. UNDP (2012), pp. 11 and 44. See also www.joinred.com.17. UNDP (2012), p. 11.18. Sandor (2009), p. 1.19. UNDP (2012), pp. 14-16.20. Ibid., p. 9; Sandor et al. (2009), p. 3.21. Girishankar (2009), p. 8.1.2 IFD TaxesAside from the German government’s allocationto environmental projects from its sales of pollutionallowances, the airline ticket tax is the only currentIFD tax. 22Aside from the German government’sallocation to environmental projectsfrom its sales of pollution allowances,the airline ticket tax is theonly current IFD tax. ,,Launched in 2006, it is now fully implementedby the governments of Cameroon, Chile, Congo,France, Madagascar, Mali, Mauritius, Niger, andthe Republic of Korea. 23 The tax is added to individualpassengers’ ticket prices, and collected byairlines, on flights departing from these participatingcountries. The schedule usually levies alow amount on domestic and economy flights,and higher amounts on business or first class. InFrance, for example, the schedule is the following:,, €1 perpassenger departing from France in economyclass; €10 in business and first class; €4 per passengerdeparting from France in economy class; €40in business and first class. 24Participating governments channel the proceedsof their airline ticket tax into UNITAID, whichderives two thirds of its resources from this source. 25Thus far, the tax has raised about US$200 milliona year on average over the past six years, mostlyfrom France. Chart 1 shows the amounts (in euros)collected by the French government since 2006. TheUN estimates its potential at between US$1 billion22. The government of Norway pays part of a carbon tax into UNITAID,but this is not usually considered as an IFD tax. An exception isAssemblée nationale (2011), which suggests that it is an IFD tax (p. 9).23. See http://www.unitaid.eu/fr/les-financements-innovants.24. République Française (2013). As we are going to press, the Frenchgovernment is announcing an increase of the tax of 12.7% in 2014; see“La taxe Chirac sur les billets d’avion revalorisée de 12,7% en 2014”,Le Figaro, July 31, 2013.25. UNDP (2012), p. 10.Montreal Economic Institute 9
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