The Fair Tax Monitor is a tool that was jointly developed by Oxfam and the Tax Justice Network Africa (TJNA) in order to assess the progressiveness, transparency and accountability of various national tax systems around the world. Working with a methodology that gives a score to countries based on the criteria mentioned above, it has proven a useful tool in quantifying certain aspects of tax systems which were previously difficult to analyze, proceeding to generate data which local NGOs can then use for advocacy efforts.

The FTM was recently revised and updated in order to take into account a new Common Research Framework, Guidance Document and Scoring Methodology which placed an increased emphasis on advocacy and applying a gender and poverty lens to the analysis. The purpose of this focused lens is to identify elements of the tax system which could be contributing to the growing gender and economic inequality in many developing countries, and to then make recommendations as to how these could be reformed to improve the situation of the marginalized. This FTM has proven so far a sturdy contribution to the construction of a foundation for comparative fiscal studies and the empowering of local actors for positive change in their national contexts.

The Common Research Framework 2019 can be found here, the Scoring Methodology here, and the Guidance Document here.