{
  "id": 387217,
  "title": "Santiago calls for more teeth in UN tax treaty",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/08/09/santiago-calls-for-more-teeth-in-un-tax-treaty-387217",
  "topic": "world",
  "section": "World",
  "published": "2026-08-09T15:27:00.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Free Malaysia Today",
    "slug": "free-malaysia-today-freemalays",
    "url": "https://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2026/08/09/santiago-calls-for-more-teeth-in-un-tax-treaty"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Former Malaysian MP Charles Santiago addressed concerns over inadequate provisions in a draft international tax treaty during United Nations negotiations. Santiago, representing an Asian peoples' movement on debt and globalization, stressed the need for stronger obligations to be placed on countries to ensure existing tax treaties align with the proposed UN tax convention. He criticized the current language, which only requires countries to \"take progressive and meaningful steps\" towards alignment, arguing that this leaves Malaysia vulnerable to losing crucial tax revenues necessary for public infrastructure, healthcare, education, and climate adaptation.\n\nSantiago argued that Article 21 of the draft treaty allows countries to stall implementation or preserve outdated tax arrangements indefinitely, potentially causing developing economies to suffer from perpetually lost tax revenues. He emphasized that the proposed treaty is designed to foster global tax cooperation, create a more inclusive system, and especially benefit low- and middle-income nations. Santiago called for a mechanism to handle countries that refuse to negotiate or prolong the process, as well as a requirement for countries to align their domestic laws with the convention to ensure its obligations are reflected in laws governing multinational companies.",
  "summary": "Former Malaysian MP Charles Santiago has warned that weak provisions in a draft international tax treaty could hinder Malaysia's ability to collect tax revenue from multinational companies. Speaking at UN headquarters in New York during negotiations on the proposed UN tax convention, Santiago called for stronger obligations to be imposed on countries to align existing tax treaties with the convention. He criticized the current provision, which only requires countries to take \"progressive and meaningful steps\" towards alignment, stating that this allows for existing unequal tax treaties to remain in force indefinitely. Santiago emphasized the importance of Malaysia not losing vital tax revenues needed for public infrastructure, healthcare, education, and climate adaptation. He also urged the inclusion of an effective mechanism to deal with countries that refuse to negotiate or prolong the process indefinitely, and called for domestic laws to be aligned with the convention to ensure its obligations are reflected in laws governing multinational companies.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 2,
    "also_reported_by": [
      {
        "outlet": "Free Malaysia Today",
        "title": "Santiago calls for more teeth in UN tax treaty",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/08/09/santiago-calls-for-more-teeth-in-un-tax-treaty",
        "published": "2026-08-09T15:27:00.000Z"
      }
    ]
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}