We have been informed by the Directorate of Internal Taxes of Chile of the demise of Mr. Jaime Ross Bravo, former Director of the SII in 1964 –1970, which sad news we wish to communicate to the international tax community because of his reputation as tax expert, as well as his close relationship with CIAT.

In April and May 1966, Mr. Ross represented Chile in the meetings of Tax Administrators of the countries of the Americas held in Washington, D.C., within the framework of the Alliance for Progress, led by the government of the United States of America for the region. As a result of the foregoing, Mr. Ross, together with the Directors of the United States, Mexico, Panama and Uruguay formed the Planning Committee that was in charge of laying the bases of an organization that would coordinate actions and exchange information and experiences in the field of tax administration, as projected in the Washington meetings.

A year later, in May 1967, the Planning Committee convoked the CIAT Constituent Assembly wherein Mr. Ross and other tax directors from 18 countries of the Americas established CIAT; currently an organization consisting of 38 member countries from four continents, which is about to commemorate its 50th Anniversary at the General Assembly scheduled to be held in Mexico City next April 25-28.

Mr. Jaime Ross was an attorney with a degree in Juridical and Social Sciences from the University of Chile. He stood out as a tax specialist, international consultant and educator in different activities of the Organization of American States (OAS), International Monetary Fund (IMF), Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP).

As CIAT consultant, he participated in technical assistance projects for strengthening the tax administrations of Guatemala and Venezuela in the nineties and was also a reviewer of the version of the CIAT Tax Code Model at that time.

We can but express our gratitude for his legacy.