Fowler emerges vice-chairman of UN tax committee

Babatunde Fowler, chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), has been elected the first vice chairman of United Nations committee of experts on international cooperation in tax matters.

According to a statement shared with TheCable on Wednesday, the election took place on Tuesday in Geneva, Switzerland, where the global UN committee of tax experts is holding its meeting.

The statement, which was signed by Wahab Gbadamosi, head of communication and servicom department, FIRS, said Antonio Guterres, UN secretary general announced the appointment of the 25 members of the committee.

Five out of the 25 new entrants into the committee are Africans. They are Fowler, who is also the chairman of African Tax Administrations Forum (ATAF); Elfrieda Stewart Tamba, chairman of the Liberian Revenue Authority and chairman of West African Tax Administrators Forum (WATAF); Margaret Moonga Chikuba, chairman of the Zambian Revenue Authority.

Others are Eric Nil Yarboi Mensah, chairman of Ghanaian Revenue Authority and George Omondi Obell, chairman of the Kenyan Revenue Authority.

“The appointment is in accordance with the United Nations resolution—the Economic and Social Council resolution 2004/69, which established that only 25 tax experts selected from among all countries of the world are needed to join the Committee of Experts on International Cooperation in Tax Matters, within an interval of every four years,” the statement read.

Other experts in the committee are from India, Poland, Canada, Switzerland, Japan among others.

Their mandate is to brainstorm on how the world can manage taxation for international development and cooperation.

Guterres said 60 nominations were received for the 25 positions in response to a call for nomination of qualified candidates by member states.