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Cutting development aid costs lives, and it will exacerbate poverty, inequality and instability across the globe, said Oxfam today in response to the publication of new aid figures by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

The European Commission has today opened a state aid probe into the tax affairs of furniture giant Ikea with the Netherlands. This new case shows Europe still has to put its own house in order when it comes to ending tax havens within the EU.

Rulings by the General Court of the European Union today are a wake-up call for the EU to stop the destructive race to the bottom on taxation and reform the global architecture to create a fairer and more equitable system, says Oxfam.

Figures published today by the OECD show that development aid has slightly increased in 2020. While this rise provides a lifeline for millions of people living in poverty around the world, it’s simply not enough. With extreme poverty skyrocketing for the first time in over twenty years and increasing economic and gender inequality exacerbated by the Covid-19 crisis, rich countries are facing and failing the biggest test the aid system has seen since its creation 50 years ago, said Oxfam. 

This G7 finance meeting has again been a debate among exclusive club members without the equal participation of developing countries. It’s no wonder that tax issues relevant to poor countries were not addressed. 

It is very good news that the European Commission seems ready to finally tackle harmful tax competition inside the European Union, Oxfam said in reaction to a report criticising seven EU member states for their aggressive tax policies. The organisation also welcomed the increased pressure on tax havens greylisted by the EU to make their reform commitments public.

Oxfam strongly welcomes today’s leaked documents on Luxembourg’s tax haven operations revealed by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), showing that Luxembourg granted favorable tax treatment to many multinational corporations in order for them to dodge taxes by routing their profits through the country.

Today’s World Wealth Report from Capgemini shows that times have never been better for the world’s wealthiest - since 2009 more than 4.5 million new millionaires have been created, rising to a total of 15.4 million millionaires across the world last year. Yet while the wealthy prosper, 702 million people living in extreme poverty are being left behind.

Across Africa, ambitions to achieve inclusive and sustainable development are being undermined by inadequate investment in the care economy. Women and girls are providing millions of hours of unpaid care and domestic work – a provision which props up the economy and underpins society, yet remains under-recognized, undervalued and under-invested in. 

G20 countries are the biggest losers when US multinationals avoid paying taxes where they do business. This is the main finding of a new report on the global tax system, ‘Still Broken,’ released by the Tax Justice Network, Oxfam, Global Alliance for Tax Justice and Public Services International today.Overall it is estimated that, in order to reduce their tax bills, US multinationals shifted between $500 and 700 billion—a quarter of their annual profits—out of the United States, Germany, the United Kingdom and elsewhere to a handful of countries including the Netherlands, Luxembourg…