Latin America is not `underdeveloped', hostage to the world market or victim of bad governance, as many assume and claim. Rather, the subcontinent is one of the richest regions in the world and has enormous amounts of natural goods, raw materials and accumulated money. Latin America's problem is not a scarcity of resources, but the inadequate distribution of these resources. The richest and wealthiest in the region are not held accountable by politics and society to make their contribution to social and economic development: Latin America has the lowest tax rate worldwide. High levels of tax evasion and illegal financial flows abroad are also part of everyday life in the region.

The conference presents this panorama of unequal distribution in its various facets on the basis of different analyses of fiscal policy, analyses the mechanisms that repeatedly succeed in reproducing the enormous wealth and blocking the opportunities for fiscal redistribution, and discusses options for making the region fairer and more sustainable in the future through smart policies.