Hillary Clinton: tax and inequality key development themes

From The Guardian:

"Clinton has made tax equity a theme of a four-nation tour through the region this week, saying wealthy elites are starving governments of funds for infrastructure and poverty relief. "Despite progress in some places, tax and budget systems are ineffective and inefficient in much of the hemisphere," she said in Ecuador's capital, Quito.

"Levels of tax evasion are unacceptably high as much or more than 50% in some of the region's economies when it comes to personal income tax."

Well said, Mrs. Clinton! (If you want to look at this in more depth, take a look at our Latin America edition of Tax Justice Focus.) And there's more good stuff from her:

"Before anyone could give her a Che Guevara T-shirt she added: "This is not class warfare or us-versus-them rhetoric. It is a matter of recognising that this is not a zero-sum game and that the winner-takes-all approach to our economic future is shortsighted and obsolete. More inclusive growth will make our entire economies stronger and more competitive over the long term, to the benefit of all."

Of course words are one thing, and deeds are quite another. The U.S. might consider a recent Mexican request, as a starter, as it considers what it might do to help.