Hillary Clinton to address OECD on tax fairness

WASHINGTON: US Secretary of State HillaryClinton will promote "tax fairness" at a meeting next week in Paris of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, a top aide said Tuesday.

Richard Hormats, the department's undersecretary of economic, energy and agricultural affairs, said Clinton will talk about "tax fairness, accountability, how countries structure their tax systems."

The point, said Hormats, is to ensure that tax systems provide "sufficient revenues to finance development, that the responsibility for providing these revenues is fairly shared among taxpayers, and that the use of the revenue is transparent."

The questions are important ones for the administration of President Barack Obama in the face of tough fights over fiscal issues with Congress, which funds US overseas assistance.

Clinton did not plan to cite any country in particular, said Hormats.

Since her arrival at the State Department, Clinton has called for fiscal reform in Pakistan, one of the largest recipients of US aid.

"It is absolutely unacceptable for those with means in Pakistan not to be doing their fair share to help their own people, while the taxpayer of Europe, the US and other contributing countries are all chipping in to do our part," Clinton said last October after flooding swept through Pakistan.

Clinton will lead the American delegation to the Paris headquarters of the 34-nation OECD, which promotes economic and social policies worldwide, when it celebrates its 50th anniversary from May 24-26.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan will also be in attendance.