A/HRC/26/28 developing countries of billions of dollars worth of potential tax revenue, is known as tax “base erosion and profit shifting”.106 77. The annual loss to Africa from transfer mispricing has been estimated at $38 billion, higher than the flow of development assistance to the region over the same period.107 The problem is exacerbated by a lack of accessible information on “beneficial ownership” (the ultimate owner of companies, trusts and funds) and the fact that companies are not required to report systematically their income and activities on a country-by-country basis. 78. A new multilateral tax regime based on the premise of tax cooperation over competition is therefore urgently required. Existing mechanisms, such as the Committee of Experts on International Cooperation on Tax Matters, could play an important role with more dedicated support. Now is the time to take decisive action towards cooperation, guided by human rights principles. V. Recommendations 79. States must realize the full potential of tax collection as a tool to generate revenue for the fulfilment of human rights obligations and to redress discrimination and inequality. Human rights principles regarding participation, transparency, accountability and non-discrimination should be followed throughout the whole revenue-raising cycle. For this purpose, States should: (a) Seek to increase tax revenue in a manner compatible with their human rights obligations of non-discrimination and equality, and increase the allocation of revenues collected to budget areas that contribute to the enjoyment of human rights; (b) Invest financial resources and political will in strengthening national tax authorities, ensuring that they have technical and budgetary autonomy and that their staff is professionalized; (c) Increase reliance on personal and direct taxes, and design all taxes in ways that reduce regressive impact and gender bias; (d) Carefully consider the income tax threshold to ensure that persons below or near the poverty line are not driven deeper into poverty by tax policies; (e) Conduct human rights assessments of fiscal policy periodically and with broad public participation, including analysis of the distributional consequences and tax burden borne by different income sectors and disadvantaged groups; (f) Review tax structures, codes and instruments for explicit and implicit gender bias and ensure they do not reinforce existing gender inequalities, including through their impact on unpaid care work; (g) Ensure that people have access to all relevant data and information on fiscal policy and government revenues, including from the corporate sector, and include such information under right to information laws; (h) Take measures to build the capacity of all people to understand fiscal policy options, and establish inclusive mechanisms to ensure that they are actively engaged in devising the most appropriate policy options; 106 107 20 Christian Aid, False Profits: robbing the poor to keep the rich tax-free, 2009. Africa Progress Panel, Africa Progress Report (see footnote 97), p. 65.