tax havens

During the two days of the G8 Summit, which starts today, $2.2 billion in illicit flows will have hemorrhaged from developing countries into tax havens and land one and a half times the size of Manhattan sold off to foreign investors.

Since 2000, companies in G8 countries have acquired land in developing countries more than the size of the whole of Ireland. This is enough to feed 96 million people every year – almost the total population of the UK and Canada.

European leaders failed today to meet the expectations they had raised of cracking down on tax dodging at a summit in Brussels. In reaction, Catherine Olier, Oxfam’s EU Policy Adviser, said:

Meeting today in Brussels, European Finance Ministers failed to take bold action against tax evasion and avoidance, leaving a great deal still to be achieved at next week’s EU leaders’ summ

Oxfam estimates that the proposed EU aid cuts could be enough to have lifted more than 4.6 million people in the poorest countries out of extreme poverty. The proposed cuts to emergency aid alone would mean the EU is turning a blind eye on the plight of 150 million people affected by disasters or conflicts.

Oxfam today revealed that just over a quarter of the taxes that could be raised each year from money currently hidden away in tax havens would be enough to lay the foundation for ending global hunger.

International development agency Oxfam and the European Network on Debt and Development (Eurodad) welcome the European Commi

The G20 leading economies have sidelined development and food security at their summit in Los Cabos.

In order to be able to find enough resources to ensure public services, such as education and health for all, poor countries need to raise more tax, and raise tax in ways that are progressive and f