The COVID effect
When the COVID-19 situation put an unexpected spin on the year for all, tax systems were on the front lines in many jurisdictions as a tool for swift support in the short term, and a lever for recovery in the longer term. For governments, businesses and individuals, managing the situation effectively would require both balance and agility. As the pandemic continued and certainty remained elusive, the need for multi-stakeholder discussions around emerging tax issues became increasingly apparent.
Responsible Tax Roundtables
It was amidst this backdrop, that we activated a series of discussions with our Responsible Tax stakeholder community through a series of roundtables focused on the ways in which tax policy could support a post-COVID-19 recovery and the potential challenges and opportunities found in various approaches being considered.
The roundtables were led by KPMG’s Global Head of Tax Policy, Chris Morgan, and benefited from the views of more than 100 global stakeholders, ranging from taxpayers and multilateral institutions, to civil society and academics through the course of eleven roundtables held between June and September 2020.
I had the pleasure of joining several of these roundtables, and I was struck by the quality of the discussions, the willingness of participants to listen to one another and the complexities and ideas behind the different views.
We were able to bring forward many of these perspectives in a December webcast, the replay of which is available here, and now, I am pleased to introduce a short new publication coming out of the series, Tax policy considerations in the wake of COVID-19. This piece brings together the key themes and focus areas that emerged throughout our discussions this past year, considering especially the new reality in the wake of COVID-19 through three lenses:
- measures to stimulate economies
- approaches for raising revenues
- opportunities to drive a “green recovery”
You can view the full summary here. As always, we welcome your feedback, comments and ideas for future roundtable discussions.
As 2020 draws to a close, and we look with optimism to the year ahead, I want to take a moment to thank all who contributed in different ways to our Responsible Tax discussions this past year. We look forward to continuing to engage with this community in 2021 and beyond.
Round Table Summary
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Throughout this blog, “we”, “KPMG”, “us” and “our” refers to the global organization or to one or more of the member firms of KPMG International Limited (“KPMG International”), each of which is a separate legal entity.
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by David Linke
As organizations of all sizes are ever more exposed to new trends in regulation, David Linke leads the Global Tax & Legal network of professionals in its efforts to work with multinational businesses to respond to those demands and create value. As a leading network, KPMG Tax & Legal professionals are focused on bringing our professional experience and acumen, our global capabilities and connectivity and technology-powered solutions to the most complex tax and legal challenges and transformation projects that tax leaders face.
