Home

About
    Purpose
    Statutes
    News& Events
    Resolutions

Structure
    Board
    AdvisoryBoard
    Members
    Associates

Resources
    Starta Group
    TalkingPoints
    SuccessStories
    TaxBurdens
    Dictionary

Despite being separated by thousands of miles and many different languages, leaders of citizen groups throughout the Asia and Pacific region recently came together in Bangkok, Thailand for one purpose: to help each other more effectively advance the cause of taxpayers’ rights in their respective nations.

All the working sessions of the APTU meeting, such as the one here led by Chairman Bjorn Tarras-Wahlberg (center), were lively and productive.

On April 29, Bjorn Tarras-Wahlberg, Chairman of the Asia-Pacific Taxpayers Union (APTU), opened the latest members’ conference with the goal of providing advice, information, and solutions to the practical issues that taxpayer groups both new and mature encounter during their everyday operations. APTU is the latest successful organizing venture for Mr. Tarras-Wahlberg, who helped to found the World Taxpayers Associations (WTA) in 1988 and currently serves as WTA’s Secretary General. Toward this end he enlisted the help of many APTU member associations, who had numerous success stories to share. APTU’s members are likewise frequent participants in WTA.

Mr. Raymond Ho Man Kit of Momentum 107 describes how he organized taxpayer protests in Hong Kong.

For example, Mr. Kim Sunteak with the Korean Taxpayers Association demonstrated how his group was able to enlist 1.15 million fellow citizens to participate in Internet-based campaigns against higher taxes on transportation. Also, Mr. Fengjiang Liu of the Beijing International Taxation Research Society showed how his organization enlisted 168,000 paying members, as well as 30 free and independent local taxpayer groups throughout the vast expanse of China.

During a brief break in sessions several leaders of member groups in APTU are pictured here (left to right): Mr. You of Japan, Mr. Kim of Korea, Mr. Jaya from Australia, and Mr. Liu of China.

In addition, the APTU meeting welcomed participating organizations from Kazakhstan and Turkey, who provided overviews of their efforts to recruit new members and establish greater transparency in their own governments’ fiscal policies. Also discussed were developments in Georgia, where activists have transformed the country’s tax system for the better, and Ukraine, where the taxpayer group has been establishing 27 local branches with a goal of 400 all over the country - or the same number as the regional tax administrations.

As the photos here indicate, the sessions at the APTU meeting were productive and congenial. Congratulations to APTU and best wishes for even greater successes in coming months!

Mr. Kim Sunteak (left) and Ms. Yeo Joung (right) give a presentation to APTU meeting participants on their successful methods for protesting tax increases.

See News from WTA's London Meeting by Visiting our News and Events Page!