Márcio F. Verdi
Executive Secretary
Inter-American Center of  Tax Administrations

Firstly, I wish to acknowledge those who 45 years ago, in 1965, envisioned the need for an organization that would bring together tax administrators with a view to strengthening cooperation among the tax administrations of the countries in the American continent.

It is our pride to see that an institution founded in 1967, after two years of organization, with 17-member countries, is celebrating its 43rd anniversary in 2010, marked by continuous institutional development, a proven international track record and the ongoing effort to promote modernization of tax procedures; as well as the continuous battle against tax evasion and harmful tax planning among its member countries.

The best example of the foregoing is that after the creation of CIAT, an absolutely innovative organization in those days, many other tax organizations were created regionally, which share the international agenda today: the “Commonwealth Association of Tax Administrators – CATA, the Intra-European Organization of Tax Administrations – IOTA, the Caribbean Organization of Tax Administrators – COTA and recently, the ATAF – African Tax Administration Forum”.

And if we ask ourselves the reason why so many regional and international tax organizations arose, the immediate answer is that they constitute a requirement of countries that need to learn to coexist, work and enforce taxes in a scenario in which we no longer speak of national taxpayers but worldwide, globalized taxpayers, present in almost all the countries in the world.

In effect, as we are well aware of, in the worldwide economy almost 10% of taxpayers are responsible for over 80% of the national taxes collected and such taxpayers are present in a number of countries simultaneously, individually or through related companies. Consequently, this scenario calls for the exchange of good practices, learning from new experiences and procedures applied in other countries and, especially, exchanging information among tax administrations.

CIAT, based on the present international economic context, and in line with the guidelines from its 2010-2013 Strategic Plan, has been working according to five fundamental strategic guidelines:

A. Promoting mutual cooperation actions among tax administrations to prevent and combat all forms of fraud, tax evasion and tax avoidance and facilitate voluntary compliance;

B. Drafting and disseminating information, studies, research and development of good and innovative practices to improve tax policy and administration;

C. Designing, promoting and executing training activities in coordination with the tax administrations, to contribute to improve the levels of professional development of their human resources;

D. Assessing, supporting and executing the implementation of technical assistance projects to strengthen the tax administrations;

E. Developing internal management and external coordination policies aimed at CIAT institutional improvement.

Finally, I would like to conclude this welcome message to our Website by mentioning the fundamental reasons for the successes of this institution in the course of its history: the absolute and ongoing collaboration of CIAT member countries during these 43 years; the selfless and complete devotion of all the members of the Executive Council in this time; the work that Executive Secretariat officials undertook with their greatest devotion and the daily effort of the Executive Secretaries preceding me, pursuing such joint efforts to the benefit of the 38-member countries in our organization.