Similar Posts
Pan African Youth Perspectives on FFD
Africa, home to the youngest and fastest growing population globally, has faced shrinking fiscal space, capital flight, and uneven access to international financial markets. For African youth, who not only represent over 70% of the continent’s population but also the continent’s potential drivers of innovation and growth, these challenges translate into restricted opportunities, heightened vulnerabilities, and a fragile future.
YTJN Nairobi Tax Talks RoundUp: Third Session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee to Develop a UN Framework Convention on International Tax Cooperation
For youth participants, we see a distinct perspective, emphasizing that the current tax system often leaves Global South countries underfunded, limiting investments in youth employment, education, and digital access. We continue to highlight that failing to adapt taxation to modern digital economies risks perpetuating inequalities: large digital corporations operating in developing countries can avoid paying fair shares, while young entrepreneurs face regulatory burdens that stifle innovation. Civil society representatives reinforced these points, calling for tax rules that account for historical disparities between wealthy and developing nations. Discussions reflected a tension between protecting traditional national revenue sources and reforming systems to ensure equitable contributions from globalized business models.
The Taita Taveta County Youth Service Bill 2025
YTJN intends to once again collaborate with KYMCA to hold public hearings for the Bill with the citizens and the Assembly and then have the MCAs debate the Bill in the Assembly. This Bill once passed into law is expected to address youth unemployment, insufficient domestic resource mobilization, food insecurity, double taxation of youth operating in small and medium enterprises, teenage pregnancies, skillset mismatch amongst the youth, limited youth participation in formulation of policies and laws at County level among others.
Financing our Futures: What does Domestic Resource Mobilization (DRM) mean for Youth?
Youth should care. The main reason is because we’re paying, but not heard. Africa is the youngest continent in the world, with over 60% of its population under the age of 25. Yet despite being the majority, young people are among the most heavily taxed, especially through consumption taxes such as VAT on airtime, mobile money, transport, and everyday goods.
Intergovernmental Negotiations on the UN Tax Convention Resume in New York with Renewed Opportunity to Center Youth Voices in Global Tax Governance
Specifically, the Youth Tax Justice Network (YTJN) will be present at the Fourth INC Session, advocating for youth-inclusive tax governance, intergenerational accountability, and transparent fiscal systems that respond to the social and economic realities facing young people globally. YTJN aims to contribute youth-centered perspectives to ongoing debates on taxing rights, transparency, and international cooperation against tax abuse.
Moving from Echoes to Action
A key discussion point was the looming public debt crisis, driven more by domestic borrowing than external sources. This inward borrowing approach has the unintended effect of shrinking fiscal space and crowding out essential public services.
