In response to an invitation of the government of the State of Sao Paulo, Brazil, the CIAT Executive Secretary, Mr. Márcio F. Verdi, participated in the International Seminar organized by the Finance Secretariat of the aforementioned state. Other participants included representatives  from Argentina, Canada, Chile, Spain, France and OECD, as well as Tax Auditors from the Federal Secretariat of Revenues of Brazil and Tax Auditors from the State of Sao Paulo and other Brazilian states.

The CIAT Executive Secretary made an important presentation on the impact of the economic crisis in the tax administrations and their future challenges, under the context of the world economy.The seminar served as a broad discussion forum, especially because of the diversity of speakers, which allowed an evaluation of the current tax situation in the countries participating in the seminar, as well as of the measures implemented in each of them to face the world crisis.

Worth noting is the participation of the OECD which provided participants a current overview of the process for ensuring transparency in the world economy, and the efforts being devoted to the exchange of information at the world level, as well as a broad analysis of the world’s economic tax scenario.

In addition to discussing the economic impact of the crisis and its consequences for the tax administrations, the CIAT Executive Secretary, referred in particular to the restrictions imposed by bank secrecy to the activities of the tax administrations, thus preventing them from fully complying with their mission and objectives.