T/AI at OGP: Collective Wisdom on Land and Tax Transparency

One of the privileges of our work in the TransparencyAccording to OGP’s Articles of Governance, transparency occurs when “government-held information (including on activities and decisions) is open, comprehensive, timely, freely available to the pub... More and Accountability initiative is the opportunity to bring together experts from every sector working on opening government.

At OGP’s London summit, T/AI helped to organize a number of events, including group discussions on land transparency, tax transparency and the open government agenda post-2015, as well as a kickoff session during civil society day that urged advocates, “Don’t Complain, Campaign!” To bolster reform efforts across the entire OGP community, T/AI also launched our new Open Government Guide on October 31, a compendium of practical recommendations in 21 different governance areas.

We’re pleased to give highlights here from the sessions on land and taxPlacing transparency, accountability, and participation at the center of tax policy can ensure that burdens are distributed equitably across society. Technical specifications: Commitments related to c... transparency, and will sharing updates from the Open Government Guide and “Post-2015” activities in the coming days.

Participants in the session on land transparency and governance brought a wide range of perspectives. “It was especially interesting to watch as the group identified shared interests across different sectors,” said T/AI Director Vanessa Herringshaw. “The high energyEnsuring universal access to sustainable, dependable, and affordable energy is critical to every aspect of prosperity. Increasing public oversight and transparency in the energy sector can help to ens... More in the discussion was a reminder that if we work together we can have enough weight to push for change: to call for more open dataBy opening up data and making it sharable and reusable, governments can enable informed debate, better decision making, and the development of innovative new services. Technical specifications: Polici..., more open contractingA transparent procurement process, known as open contracting, increases competition, improves public service delivery, and ensures governments better value for their money. Technical specifications: C... More, and better and more transparent cost-benefit-risk assessments in land use.”

Panelist Michael Jarvis of the Open Contracting group said, “We need more accessible data on land ownership and the details of land investments. Open data platforms highlighting what is available and what is not will help, but we also need to build the capacity of “infomediaries” at the local level to help the most affected communities find and use the information that is most relevant to them.”

One of the highlights of the talk was Janet Gunter’s presentation of the Land Matrix initiative. See below for selected tweets about the session, and read these excellent notes compiled by Janet.

The full panel on land included Jarvis and Gunter, along with Lorenzo Cotula of IIED, Gunter of the International Land Coalition, Megan MacInnes of Global Witness, Dr. Adam Patrick Nyaruhuma from Tanzania’s Ministry of Lands, as well as a video presentation by Jaime Escobedo of Peru’s Center for Social Studies (CEPES).

Panelists in our session on tax addressed both international and local issues, from the global infrastructure that facilitates tax avoidance and evasion (including tax havens) to the need for more trustworthy tax systems in OGP countries. Recently reformers inside and outside government have put much-needed attention on the role of taxes in the accountability of both corporations and governments.

Herringshaw said, “There are strong calls to bring a greater range of voices to the debate.” said Herringshaw. “Caroline Kende-Robb of the Africa Progress Panel and Zitto Kabwe, chair of Tanzania’s Public Accounts Committee were both unhappy that tax rule-making has been dominated by OECD members until now. Africa and others outside this ‘wealth club’ must get a seat at the table. And Chris Wales of PwC said citizens and experts outside government should also be included in national policy development.”

Responding to the announcement by Prime Minister David Cameron that the UK was opening its corporate registry, Herringshaw said, “It’s fantastic that the UK has made this commitmentOGP commitments are promises for reform co-created by governments and civil society and submitted as part of an action plan. Commitments typically include a description of the problem, concrete action... to publish this information on real or “beneficial” owners of companies, but the non-inclusion of trusts in this data is a huge gap, since they own the companies in many cases.”

Panelist Alex Cobham of the Center for Global Development also expressed measured enthusiasm for the UK disclosure plan, saying online, “there has – as yet – been no matching announcement that the UK’s generally less transparent jurisdictions (the Crown Dependencies and Overseas Territories) will be first to join the journey. … The UK has now announced a breakthrough in one area. Who will follow here?”

You can find our social media coverage of these sessions on the T/AI website. To learn more about the Open Government Guide and download the recommendations most important in your own country, go to OpenGovGuide.com.