Now in its fifth edition, the Commitment to Reducing Inequality Index (CRI) assesses the commitment of 164 countries and regions to fighting inequality. The CRI 2024 offers powerful new evidence on whether governments are acting to reduce inequality through policies on public services, fair taxation and labour rights. It reveals negative trends in the vast majority of countries since 2022. Four in five have cut the share of their budgets going to education, health and/or social protection; four in five have backtracked on progressive taxation; and nine in ten have regressed on labour rights and minimum wages. Nine out of ten countries have backtracked in one or more area, meaning without urgent policy actions to reverse this worrying trend, economic inequality will almost certainly continue to rise in 90% of countries. Despite some progress, the IMF and the World Bank could do far more to prioritize the fight to reduce inequality. This report assesses their actions across the three CRI pillars of public services, taxation and labour rights. It makes recommendations for how the IMF and World Bank should stop promoting policies that increase inequality and instead support those policies that reduce it, as a matter of urgency
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- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.21201/2024.000038
- Pages
- 78
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- Kenya
- pages
- 78
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Table of Contents
- 1 STRUCTURE OF THE INDEX 3
- 1.1 PUBLIC SERVICES PS PILLAR 4
- 1.2 TAX T PILLAR 4
- 1.3 LABOUR L PILLAR 4
- 1.4 CONSTRUCTING THE INDEX 4
- 2 THE PUBLIC SERVICES PILLAR 6
- 2.1 POLICY INDICATORS PS1 GOVERNMENT SPENDING ON PROGRESSIVE SECTORS AS OF TOTAL SPENDING 6
- 2.2 COVERAGE INDICATORS PS2 MEASURING WHO IS COVERED BY SERVICES WITH A FOCUS ON EQUITY 7
- 2.3 IMPACT INDICATOR PS3 IMPACT OF SPENDING ON THE GINI COEFFICIENT 10
- 3 THE TAX PILLAR 11
- 3.1 POLICY INDICATOR T1 PROGRESSIVE TAX STRUCTURES 11
- 3.2 TAX PRODUCTIVITY ACROSS VAT PIT AND CIT T2 14
- 3.3 IMPACT INDICATOR T3 IMPACT OF TAX ON THE GINI COEFFICIENT 15
- 4 THE LABOUR PILLAR 16
- 4.1 POLICY INDICATOR L1 RESPECT FOR LABOUR AND UNION RIGHTS 16
- 4.2 LABOUR RIGHTS COVERAGE INDICATORS L2 VULNERABLE EMPLOYMENT AND UNEMPLOYMENT 19
- 4.3 IMPACT INDICATOR L3 WAGES GINI 19
- NOTES 20
