tax

Patients living in poverty in the Global South are being bankrupted by private healthcare corporations backed by multi-million-dollar investments from development finance institutions (DFIs) run by the UK, French, German and other rich country governments. DFIs like the World Bank’s International Finance Corporation (IFC) and the European Investment Bank (EIB) invest public funds via the private sector to help foster economic development in the Global South and tackle poverty. However, Oxfam published two investigations on DFI funding into private hospital chains and other for-profit healthcare corporations operating in low- and middle-income countries and found cases of them.   

Today, the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, proposed the introduction of a cap on revenues of companies producing electricity with low costs and a solidarity contribution from fossil fuel companies. The revenues from these unexpected profits will be directed to people and businesses to help them adapt to the recent increase in energy prices as well as to invest in clean home-grown energy sources.

Today, the European Commission proposed that EU countries tax windfall profits made by energy companies. This one-off tax would capture the excess profits made during the recent spike in gas prices. 

Europe’s General Court ruled that Amazon did not profit from illegal state aid in Luxembourg. This ruling dates back to a 2017 European Commission decision which stated that Amazon benefited from an illegal tax deal with Luxembourg and had to repay €250 million in unpaid taxes to the Grand Duchy. Amazon and Luxembourg have appealed this decision. The verdict follows last year’s defeat for the Commission in its high-profile case against Apple and Ireland.  

Oxfam today gave a cautious welcome to the OECD's plans to open up its tax reform process to developing countries but said more fundamental global tax reforms, beyond BEPS, are still needed to stop corporate tax scandals. 

Today, European finance ministers updated the EU tax haven list. They added Brunei Darussalam and removed Costa Rica and Curaçao from the greylist. There were no changes to the blacklist. 

In response to the communiqué published following the Fourth G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors Meeting, Oxfam International’s Tax Policy Lead, Susana Ruiz, said: “The G20 Finance Ministers are advancing toward fairly taxing the ultra-rich worldwide. Far from a blip, today’s G20 Ministerial reflects an emergent shift in consensus from the world’s largest economies to reduce extreme inequality by ensuring the ultra-rich pay their fair share. While we need G20 leaders to ratify this commitment at the Rio Summit in November and lay out steps for its implementation, let’s make no mistake: finance leaders have hit a new historic milestone."

The richest 1 percent have more wealth than the bottom 95 percent of the world’s population put together, new Oxfam analysis of UBS data reveals today ahead of the annual UN High-Level General Debate. 

Responding to the G7 communiqué published today, Oxfam International’s Head of Inequality Policy Max Lawson, said: “Talking about taxing the super-rich for the first time in their 50-year history was the thin silver lining in a big black cloud of G7 failure for people living in poverty.” 
 

EU governments are losing out on a staggering 286.5 billion euros in revenue annually, equivalent to 33 million euros per hour, due to their failure to fairly tax Europe’s wealthiest. This amount, equivalent to Finland’s GDP, represents what a European wealth tax of up to 5 percent could raise every year, according to Oxfam’s analysis.