31/10/2014
Mexico City was the site of an international workshop on Tax Education with the presence of tax and educational institutions from 11 Latin American and six European Union countries.
Foto de familia taller educación fiscal en MéxicoGroup photo of the tax education workshop in Mexico
The EUROsociAL Programme, financed by the European Commission, in order to strengthen Tax Education programmes in the region, held the “International Workshop on Tax Education Best Practises in the European Union and Latin America” in Mexico City from 21st to 24th October.
The activity was organized by the FIIAPP, the Ministry of Finance of El Salvador and the SAT of Mexico, and brought together tax agencies and educational institutions from Austria, Spain, Bulgaria, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Chile, Brazil, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Mexico, Colombia, Uruguay, Ecuador, Bolivia, and Honduras.
Tax educationaims to develop attitudes of commitment to the common good and the regulations that ensure democratic coexistence from an early age by emphasizing the importance of the social rationale for taxation and its link to public spending, and the harm tax fraud and corruption cause.
Through tax education, bridges are built between the government and citizens, which is especially important in Latin America where, like many other regions, paying taxes is often considered an obligation to avoid rather than a civic duty that benefits everyone. The challenge is to abandon the one-dimensional coercive approach and build a relationship between the government and citizens based on collaboration and reciprocity.
The opening featured Guillermo Vals Esponda, General Administrator of the Mexican Tax Administration Service (SAT), Juan Garay, Head of Cooperation of the EU Delegation in Mexico, Ignacio Soleto, Coordinator of the Public Finance and Democratic Governance Area of the FIIAPP, and Mario Juárez, Head of the Tax Education Unit of the Ministry of Finance of El Salvador.
The participants had the opportunity to visit the KidZania recreation centre, where young people learn about the social rationale for paying taxes by playing games.
The activity was especially relevant for positioning Tax Education as a development policy.
You can access all the presentations from the workshop here.
