Event Summary

The International HIV/AIDS Alliance and International Civil Society Support would like to invite you to participate in a briefing seminar on the urgent need to establish a Currency Transaction Levy to help meet the significant financing gap to reach the health Millennium Development Goals. We look forward to your response - and would request you to confirm your participation by Thursday 9 July at the latest to jw@icssupport.org.

Event Description

The recent report of the High Level Task Team on Innovative Financing for Health identified the need to for health financing to increase from an estimated US$31 billion today to US$67-76 billion per year by 2015. The aim of the seminar is to provide a thorough introduction and update on the progress of a Currency Transaction Levy (CTL) for Global Health and the potential to raise additional income of $30-$60bn for development.

The Currency Transaction Levy is a micro tax (.005%) that can be applied to foreign exchange transactions, a revenue source that is currently untaxed. The purpose of the levy would be to raise income for the health MDG's and not to hamper normal operations in the Foreign Exchange (FX) market. The levy is proposed at a rate of 0.005%, 200 times smaller than the 1% set out by James Tobin thirty years ago. For more information goto:  www.stampoutpoverty.org.

We hope you can take this opportunity to engage with some of the international civil society and academic leaders meeting to develop a global campaign for a CTL for health.

Presentations

Developments in the global health landscape

Developments in global health financing - G8, The International Health Partnership, High Level Task Force on Innovative Financing

Sue Perez, Treatment Action Group

The Currency Transaction Levy

What the CTL entails and the way forward.

David Hillman, Stamp Out Poverty, UK

The CTL - Myths and Facts

Technical Feasibility of the CTL

Prof Rodney Schmidt,  The North - South Institute, Canada

Why Now - The Increased Political Focus on Innovative Financing for Health

Anton Kerr, International HIV/AIDS Alliance, UK

Speakers