Jon Kafuko

New Paper: Impact of Uganda’s 2025 Tax Amendments on Youth 🚨📄 ytjn.org/2025/10/08/uga… Uganda’s 2025 tax amendments aim to raise revenue and modernize the system. But will they unlock opportunities for young people or create new barriers?

The poorest half of the world owns just 2% of total wealth. The wealthiest 10% own 76%. And most of that concentrated wealth sits in male hands. Women earn wages more than they own assets. So when #tax systems let wealth escape through offshore loopholes while taxing labour income, women pay the price. The tax code is designed in ways that protect the #wealth of a few and penalise the labour of many. We believe young people across Africa must lead the demand for #taxsystems that work for everyone. Closing loopholes. Ending offshore secrecy. Taxing wealth where it actually lives. #Youth4TaxJustice #UNTaxConvention

Article 5 of the draft UN Framework Convention on International Tax Cooperation directly targets High-Net-Worth Individuals (HNWIs) and the offshore structures that protect their wealth. Here is what it does: ✅It requires states to strengthen cooperation in collecting tax #debts across borders. ✅It mandates automatic exchange of #financial #information so wealthy individuals cannot hide assets offshore. ✅It pushes for #progressive #taxation as a tool to address historic inequalities. Why does this matter for gender justice? Because men overwhelmingly hold the wealth sitting in offshore accounts, taxing it is redistribution. #UNTaxConvention #Youth4TaxJustice

As March winds down, Ms. Maria Nailantei continues to remind us that Rights written on paper mean nothing if they don't show up in a woman's daily life. Every woman and girl deserves #systems that protect her, include her, and amplify her voice, especially those who are most often left out of the rooms where decisions are made. We continue to demand that decision-makers implement what they have committed to, not just in declarations but in the everyday lives of women and girls. ✅When we hold institutions #accountable, a girl stays in school because her government funded her education. ✅When inclusive policies are enforced, a woman accesses the #healthcare she deserved but never received. ✅When you organise, you create the pressure that turns a budget line into a meal, a clinic, a safe space. #Youth4TaxJustice

📢 "Our future is not for sale." In this powerful op‑ed I explain why Gen Z Africans are rising up not just against taxes, but against a system that borrows without building, taxes the poorest, and offers zero accountability. The solution? Institutionalise accountability. Read👇

We were taught taxation builds roads and schools. But what happens when that contribution disappears into opaque loans and unaccounted expenditure? trtafrika.com/english/articl… Opinion | Jon Kafuko

📍Johannesburg, South Africa |🗓️ 18th - 20th March, 2026 YTJN is proud to continue its contribution to regional economic governance as a committed member of the SADC Parliamentary Forum’s Trade, Industry, Finance, and Investment (TIFI) Technical Working Group, a role we have held since July 2025. The Technical Working Group plays a central role in strengthening the TIFI Committee’s mandate. It coordinates key regional initiatives, provides specialised technical expertise, mobilises resources, and develops evidence‑based research that informs parliamentary deliberations across the SADC region. By promoting structured, efficient collaboration, the Working Group helps avoid duplication of efforts and ensures resources are used effectively to drive meaningful outcomes. To join us in advancing #Youth4TaxJustice & support our continued commitment to shaping #fair & #inclusive economic governance across the SADC region, feel free to interact with YTJN’s Coordinator, Ms. Kelebogile Lekone, representing us during the engagements of the Technical Working Group.

📍Johannesburg, South Africa | 🗓️ 18th - 20th March, 2026 The Youth for Tax Justice Network (YTJN) is honoured to take part in the SADC Parliamentary Forum Standing Committee on Trade, Industry, Finance, and Investment stakeholder meeting. As an active member of the TIFI Technical Working Group, YTJN will contribute #youth‑driven and #taxjustice perspectives to the Working Group’s technical discussions, support evidence‑based recommendations, and help shape strategies that promote #fair, #transparent, and inclusive #economic #governance across the SADC region.

Every year, billions that should fund schools, hospitals, and safety nets benefiting women are stolen through profit-shifting and illicit financial flows (IFFs). 💰 Africa loses $89B annually, and since 1980, $1.3T has left sub-Saharan Africa, much from oil and mining companies avoiding taxes. 💰 Meanwhile, wealthy nations are responsible for 99.3% of global tax abuse, benefiting from the system they created. 💰 And while corporations hide $492B yearly in tax havens, we “can’t find” the $360B needed to achieve gender equality. It’s a system of extraction that hits women hardest; reducing public services, increasing unpaid care work, and limiting opportunities. Tax justice is gender justice. It’s time to stop the drain and fund the futures African women deserve. #TaxJusticeNow #MakeTaxesWorkForWomen #StopIFFs #Youth4TaxJustice

#DidYouKnow that Tax Justice = Gender Justice❓ More often than not, tax systems are structured in ways that benefit High-Net Worth Individuals & multinational corporations. Through harmful tax competition and financial secrecy, these systems drain public resources that should be building #strong, #accessible care systems for everyone. This is one of the structural barriers that reinforces #genderinequality. Read more from @LuritYugusuk and @jon_kafuko 's thoughts on why a fair allocation of taxing rights is a step toward removing this barrier. Link: bit.ly/4sEpAeL #TaxJustice4Care #Youth4TaxJustice

NEW BLOG ALERT!! Care work holds our world together; yet it remains undervalued, unseen, and overwhelmingly carried by women and girls. Every day, households, communities, and entire economies depend on unpaid and underpaid care work to function. But instead of strengthening public systems that should deliver health, education, and social protection, governments continue to underinvest, thereby pushing this essential labor onto those with the least time, power, and resources. This is a policy choice, and one that deepens gender inequality. ❌We cannot keep treating care as invisible. ❌We cannot keep relying on the unpaid labor of women and girls to fill the gaps in broken systems. 🗣️ @LuritYugusuk, YTJN's Advocacy and Policy Officer, and @jon_kafuko , Programmes Manager, argue it is time to recognize care as the backbone of society, and to invest in it accordingly. When we fund care services, we unlock opportunity, dignity, and justice. 👉 Invest in care. 👉 Value care workers. 👉 Build fair, resilient care systems for all. Read More: bit.ly/4sEpAeL

What does global tax justice mean for women and communities in Africa? Today, Pan African Climate Justice Alliance joined Akina Mama wa Afrika, Southern and Eastern Africa Trade Information and Negotiations Institute (SEATINI Uganda), and Youth for Tax Justice Network to reflect on outcomes from the 4th session of negotiations on the UN Framework Convention on International Tax Cooperation and what they mean for Africa. The dialogue highlighted the urgent need to reform global tax rules that have historically disadvantaged developing countries. Africa loses an estimated $88.6B annually through illicit financial flows, limiting governments’ ability to invest in healthcare, education, climate action, and social protection. Speakers emphasized that tax injustice is also gender injustice. When public revenues shrink, governments struggle to fund essential services, increasing the burden of unpaid care work that disproportionately falls on women and girls. They also stressed the importance of fair allocation of taxing rights, stronger transparency measures, and inclusive global tax governance to ensure multinational corporations pay their fair share where economic activity occurs. For @PACJA1, tax justice is inseparable from climate, economic, and gender justice. A fair and inclusive UN tax convention is essential to give African countries the fiscal space to finance climate adaptation, strengthen public services, and advance gender-responsive development. #TaxJustice #UNTaxConvention #GenderJustice #ClimateJustice #PACJA #AfricaRising

📍: What comes after the Fourth Session of negotiations on the UN Tax Convention? ⏰: 10 March 2026 @TaxJusticeAfric's Zandile shares that when taxing rights are ceded, women and marginalized groups bear the cost through underfunded services, weaker social protection, and higher indirect taxation. Ensuring that taxing rights are determined under the United Nations Framework Convention on International Tax Cooperation creates a neutral, multilateral mechanism that resists capture by powerful states or corporations. This would allow African governments to claim fair revenue from the value created in their own territories, protecting public services and ensuring that the fiscal system does not aggravate inequality. #UNTaxConvention #MakeTaxesWorkForWomen

📍: What comes after the Fourth Session of negotiations on the UN Tax Convention? ⏰: 10 March 2026 Member States, during the Fourth Session of negotiations, remained keen to include human rights and gender dimensions within Article 4. @GA4TJ's Maureen Mburu shares that the risk with Article 4 (Sustainable development) is that it can become symbolic window dressing. Simply stating “gender equality” in text is insufficient; without accountability mechanisms, it cannot drive real change. Demanding that each party report on progress relative to their capacity transforms Article 4 from a statement of intent into a measurable, actionable tool. Reporting ensures there is data, evidence, and accountability, which is critical for enforcement and for linking policy to real-world outcomes. #MakeTaxesWorkForWomen

⏰: HAPPENING NOW 📍: What comes after the Fourth Session of negotiations on the UN Tax Convention? 🗓: 10 March 2026 Dr. @LylaALatif borrows the “firewall” metaphor to emphasize that the set of #feminist #tax demands must function collectively. Each demand addresses a structural weakness in the global tax system that currently allows wealth and profits to escape taxation. When corporations shift #profits, when countries compete by lowering #taxrates, or when #digital companies operate without fair #taxation, governments lose revenue. That lost revenue translates into reduced capacity to finance gender-responsive public services. #MakeTaxesWorkForWomen

⏰: HAPPENING NOW 📍: What comes after the Fourth Session of negotiations on the UN Tax Convention? 🗓: 10 March 2026 @GA4TJ's Maureen Mburu shares that recognizing care work as a public good is a must. Public goods are provided collectively because they benefit everyone, and markets alone cannot supply them efficiently. Framing care work this way shifts the responsibility from women individually to the state and society collectively, justifying public #investment in childcare, eldercare, healthcare, and social support systems.

HAPPENING TOMORROW: What comes after the Fourth Session of negotiations on the UN Tax Convention? And whose voices are shaping what comes next? YTJN is partnering with @amwaafrika, @SEATINIUGANDA, and the @PACJA1 to bring you a webinar titled “What Comes Next? Feminist Reflections on the UN Tax Convention After the Fourth Session.” This discussion will present a Pan-African feminist analysis of the INC-4 outcomes, highlighting key gaps related to gender justice, fair taxation, and the digital economy, while also relaunching the UNTC Feminist Policy Brief Hear insights from leading voices in tax justice and policy: ✅Dr. @LylaALatif (@CFS_UoN) ✅Zandile Ndebele (@TaxJusticeAfric) ✅Maureen Mburu (@GA4TJ) Moderated by: 🗣️Mworozi P. Kanywamate (Akina Mama wa Afrika) 🗓: 10 March ⏰: 2:00 PM (EAT) REGISTER HERE: bit.ly/40L6K9K Be part of the discussion shaping a more just and gender-responsive global tax system. #Youth4TaxJustice #IWD2026

Join TJNA’s Ms. Zandile Ndebele for a webinar on “What Comes Next? Feminist Reflections on the UN Tax Convention After the Fourth Session.” The discussion will reflect on the evolving global tax architecture and the opportunities it presents for Africa and the Global South, from a feminist perspective. 📅 Date: 10 March 2026 ⏰ Time: 2:00 pm – 4:00 pm EAT 📍 Register here: bit.ly/40L6K9K Read more: tjna.me/4swXoKu #TaxJusticeAfrica #MakeTaxesWorkforAfrica Like, comment, share

Akina Mama wa Afrika (AMwA) in collaboration with @SEATINIUGANDA, @PACJA1, and @Youth_TJN invite you to a session titled: "What Comes Next? Feminist Reflections on the UN Tax Convention After the Fourth Session." This session will unpack: ✅The key outcomes of the 4th session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC) on the UN Framework Convention on International Tax Cooperation (UNFCITC) from a decolonial pan-African feminist perspective ✅Assess the gender justice implications of the draft articles and protocols. ✅Strategize around priority demands for Africa, and the opportunities that remain to influence the process through to its conclusion. We will also discuss AMwA’s policy brief: Feminist Pathways Toward a Fairer Global Tax Order: Feminist Demands for the UNFCITC. Read Here: bit.ly/3MPBDGV 🗓️10th March 2026 ⏲️ 2:00 - 4:00 pm EAT 🔗Register here: us02web.zoom.us/meeting/regist…

Tax justice is gender justice. On this International Women’s Day, we celebrate the power of women and girls shaping fairer economies and more just societies. For true #genderjustice, #tax systems must work for everyone. When public resources are raised and spent fairly, governments can fund the services women rely on most, i.e., healthcare, education, social protection, and care infrastructure. #IWD2026 #WomensDay

QUESTION!!!! What comes after the Fourth Session of negotiations on the #UNTaxConvention? And whose voices are shaping what comes next? YTJN is partnering with Akina Mama wa Afrika, SEATINI, and the Pan-African Climate Justice Alliance to bring you a webinar titled “What Comes Next? Feminist Reflections on the UN Tax Convention After the Fourth Session.” This discussion will present a Pan-African feminist analysis of the INC-4 outcomes, highlighting key gaps related to gender justice, fair taxation, and the digital economy, while also relaunching the UNTC Feminist Policy Brief Hear insights from leading voices in tax justice and policy: • Dr. Lyla Latif Committee on Fiscal Studies) • Zandile Ndebele (@TaxJusticeAfric) • Maureen Mburu (Global Alliance for Tax Justice) Moderated by: • Mworozi P. Kanywamate (Akina Mama wa Afrika) 🗓: 10 March ⏰: 2:00 PM (EAT) REGISTER HERE: bit.ly/40L6K9K Be part of the discussion shaping a more just and gender-responsive global tax system. #Youth4TaxJustice #IWD2026