In an era marked by the rapid growth of the digital economy, the issue of taxation on technology multinationals has taken centre stage. However, many countries in the Global South find themselves unequipped to harness tax revenue from these digital giants. Several policy options are available to countries. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the United Nations (UN) have proposed treaty-based solutions, but questions have emerged about the revenue potential of these multilateral proposals, the feasibility of their timely implementation, as well as whose interests they serve. Meanwhile, several countries — including some in the Global South — have implemented their own domestic solutions. 
In an era marked by the rapid growth of the digital economy, the issue of taxation on technology multinationals has taken centre stage. However, many countries in the Global South find themselves unequipped to harness tax revenue from these digital giants. Several policy options are available to countries. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the United Nations (UN) have proposed treaty-based solutions, but questions have emerged about the revenue potential of these multilateral proposals, the feasibility of their timely implementation, as well as whose interests they serve. Meanwhile, several countries — including some in the Global South — have implemented their own domestic solutions. 
Get ready to be immersed in the forefront of digital discourse as the 18th annual Internet Governance Forum (IGF) 2023 unfolds in Kyoto, Japan from 8 to 12 October, under the theme The Internet We Want – Empowering All People. LIRNEasia will host two sessions featuring experts from the Global South, along with LIRNEasia CEO, Helani Galpaya, Senior Research Manager, Gayani Hurulle, and Senior Researcher, Isuru Samaratunga. Helani will participate at two additional sessions. Here’s a sneak peek at the sessions; scroll down to find out how to register to attend in person or online. 1: Public-Private Data Partnerships in the Global South (Session #308) Zoom registration link (IGF 2023 Room 3) Session page This round table discussion will explore how the private sector is contributing to the data revolution toward achieving the SDGs, and the key policy and practice challenges faced by stakeholders in attempting to build data partnerships in this regard. 
LIRNEasia together with the South Centre hosted an expert forum on Policy Options for Digital Taxation in South and Southeast Asia on 19 September 2023. The event was a closed-door event, attended by over 110 tax officials, with participants registered from Global South 40 countries. The event, based on research conducted jointly by LIRNEasia and the South Centre, looked to provide a forum for the organizers and participants to share their experiences and weigh relative merits of different policy options for providing new taxing rights to capture revenues of large technology multinationals in local tax nets. The policy options included (i) domestic measures such as digital services taxes and withholding taxes (ii) OECD/G20’s Amount A Multilateral Convention and (iii) Article 12B of the UN Model Tax Convention.LA SC Digital Tax Forum_Panel 2_Implementation considerations.