The 2030 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (the UN SDGs)—or ‘Global Goals’—are an ambitious and essential set of universal goals and targets. This set of goals is considered the greatest global challenge and an indispensable requirement of sustainable development. The SDGs build upon decades of work by countries and urgently call for action by all nations, including Thailand; however, translating the vision of the SDGs into action remains a major challenge for developing countries. On behalf of the Centre for Tax Law of the Faculty of Law, Thammasat University, it is my pleasure to take this opportunity to address how an effective tax policy and legal framework can facilitate progress towards the UN SDGs.
The key concepts and development of the UN SDGs
The UN SDGs derive from the concept of economic sustainability, which refers to practices that support long-term economic growth without negatively impacting social, environmental, or cultural aspects of the community. The UN SDGs were established in June 1992 at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED)—also known as the ‘Earth Summit’—in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where more than 178 countries adopted Agenda 21. This agenda outlines a comprehensive plan of action to form a global partnership for sustainable development that improves human lives and protects the environment. Following this, in September 2000 at the UN Headquarters in New York, the UN Member States unanimously adopted the Millennium Declaration, which led to the elaboration of eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) to reduce extreme poverty by 2015. In 2015, all UN Member States adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, which provides a shared blueprint to achieve peace and prosperity for people and the planet in the present and the future.
The 2030 agenda and challenges
At its heart, the 2030 Agenda recognises that the mission to end poverty and other deprivations must be accompanied by strategies that improve health and education, reduce inequality, and spur economic growth—all while tackling climate change and working to preserve our oceans and forests.[1] These goals strongly encourage action by all countries within a global partnership. All UN Member States have a commitment to report annually to the General Assembly of the United Nations on the progress of their implementation of SDGs. However, for Thailand and other developing countries, the implementation of the SDGs presents a particular challenge. The SDGs
Progress Report 2021 indicates slow progress towards the SDGs in Asia and the Pacific, for example.
How can tax facilitate the progress towards the SDGs?
To address this concern, it is suggested that domestic tax policy and a legal framework can play a crucial role in fuelling progress towards the SDGs. Taxation is central to national sovereignty, and its primary purpose is to raise sufficient revenue with which governments can provide and operate basic services, such as education, infrastructure, healthcare, and public safety. Since tax can affect both supply and demand factors, governments can use tax to induce certain desired behaviours regarding consumption, savings, investment, and trade as well as address environmental and social issues, including poverty, inequality, and human development. Therefore, countries can strengthen and increase the effectiveness of their domestic tax policy and legal frameworks as instruments for generating the domestic resources that can advance progress towards the SDGs in many ways, such as the implementation of a tax policy and legal framework that reduce inequality and poverty, tax incentives that promote sustainable investment and innovation, environmental taxes (e.g. the carbon tax) that are designed to tax behaviour that is harmful to the environment, fiscal policies to promote health and well-being and prevent disease, tax measures for city planning, predictable and transparent tax administration that advances peace, justice, and strong institutions, and other themes that are vital to the achievement of the SDGs.
Everyone can make a crucial contribution to progress towards each of the SDGs.
In this regard, the Centre for Tax Law of Faculty of Law, Thammasat University proudly supports the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The Centre was established as a center for teaching and research on various aspects of tax law, including tax law theory, tax and fiscal policy, tax accounting, income tax, consumption tax, taxes relating to property and wealth, taxation of business transactions, international tax, taxation of international trade and investment, national and international tax dispute settlements, and the intersection between tax and other areas. Besides providing and facilitating undergraduate and postgraduate courses and research, the Centre for Tax Law delivers occasional public seminars and has co-organised a professional development program. Further details are available from the official Website https://www.law.tu.ac.th/ and Facebook page คณะนิติศาสตร์ มหาวิทยาลัยธรรมศาสตร์. The Centre for Tax Laws can also be contacted by email at legalstudies.law.tu@gmail.com
[1]GOAL 1: No Poverty GOAL; 2: Zero Hunger; GOAL 3: Good Health and Well-being; GOAL 4: Quality Education; GOAL 5: Gender Equality; GOAL 6: Clean Water and Sanitation; GOAL 7: Affordable and Clean Energy; GOAL 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth GOAL 9: Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure; GOAL 10: Reduced Inequality; GOAL 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities; GOAL 12: Responsible Consumption and Production; GOAL 13: Climate Action; GOAL 14: Life Below Water GOAL 15: Life on Land; GOAL 16: Peace and Justice Strong Institutions; GOAL 17: Partnerships to achieve the Goal (Source: United Nations, https://sdgs.un.org/goals)
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