Search results

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.

Multinational tax evasion is entrenching poverty and weakening developing country economies, Oxfam has warned ahead of the G20 leaders meeting in Russia to chart a plan for boosting global economic growth.

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.

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.

Following Oxfam’s January report revealing that just 85 people owned the same wealth as the bottom half the world’s population, Forbes has updated its “billionaires' list”, showing that extreme inequality has worsened– just 67 people at the top now own half the wealth.

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.

If G20 nations were hit as hard by corporate tax dodging as Africa, they’d have a $1.2 trillion hole in their budgets.

Inequality in Africa is rising to dangerous levels and unless checked will undermine the usefulness of economic growth on the continent.