Inter-American Development Bank, evasion rates of personal and corporate income taxes average 50 per cent in 10 representative Latin American countries, with Guatemala topping the league with an evasion rate of 70 per cent.36 This is now described to be a priority in various international outcome documents. In the Addis Ababa Action Agenda, adopted at the Third International Conference on Financing for Development in July 2015, the Heads of State and Government and High Representatives "recognize[d] that significant additional domestic public resources, supplemented by international assistance as appropriate, will be critical to realizing sustainable development and achieving the sustainable development goals", and they committed to "enhancing revenue administration through modernized, progressive tax systems, improved tax policy and more efficient tax collection".37 They pledged to "work to improve the fairness, transparency, efficiency and effectiveness of our tax systems, including by broadening the tax base and continuing efforts to integrate the informal sector into the formal economy in line with country circumstances".38 Though not explicitly defined as a human rights requirement, these commitments should be seen as a component of the duty of progressive realization. a) Strenthening the ability to collect taxes To effectively combat tax evasion, a strengthening of tax administration (by dedicating sufficient personnel and resources to combating tax evasion) would be required.39 The High-Level Panel on Illicit Financial Flows from Africa established under the auspices of the African Union and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa recommended in this regard, in particular, "developing the required capacities, establishing or strengthening necessary institutions including transfer pricing units, and providing resources for the effective functioning of these institutions", and "holding multinationals accountable for fraudulent practices by setting up requirements for their transfer of funds and business practices".40 This should also be treated as a priority since the failure to effectively address tax evasion has regressive impacts, disproportionately affecting the poor: High net-worth individuals and large corporations [...] have a far greater ability to evade taxes as they are able to pay tax advisers, lawyers and accountants (who may sometimes provide inappropriate advice and assistance) and to open undeclared foreign bank accounts in low-tax jurisdictions. Tax abuse by corporations and high net-worth individuals forces Governments to raise revenue from other sources: often regressive taxes, the burden of which falls hardest on the poor. Therefore, if States do not tackle tax abuse, they are likely to be disproportionately benefiting wealthy individuals to the detriment of the most disadvantaged. Monitoring, preventing and punishing abuse is therefore essential in order to comply with human rights principles and improve the distributive effects of tax systems.41 Combating illicit financial flows are therefore a human rights issue. Indeed, recognizing that “illicit capital flight undermines the capacity of State Parties to implement the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights and to attain the Millennium Development Goals”, the African Commission on Human 36 Ana Corbacho, et al. (eds), More than Revenue: Taxation as a development tool, cited above, at 121 (fig. 7.4.). These estimates are based on data from the period 2003-2010, with different years for the different countries (for Guatemala for instance, the reference year in 2006). They should therefore be treated with caution as a source of cross-country comparisons. They do provide, however, an idea of the magnitude of the problem. 37 Outcome document adopted at the Third Internatinal Conference on Financing for Development (Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 13–16 July 2015) and endorsed by the General Assembly in its resolution 69/313 of 27 July 2015, para. 22. 38 Id. 39 Report of the Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, Magdalena Sepulveda Carmona, presented at the 26th session of the Human Rights Council (A/HRC/26/28) (22 May 2014), para. 57. 40 High-Level Panel on Illicit Financial Flows from Africa, Illicit Financial Flows (2014), at 66. 41 Report of the Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, Magdalena Sepulveda Carmona, presented at the 26th session of the Human Rights Council (A/HRC/26/28) (22 May 2014), para. 60. 13 CRIDHO Working Paper 2017/1