tax

The combined wealth of EU billionaires increased by more than 400 billion euros in just six months this year – the equivalent of over two billion euros a day. That is according to Oxfam’s new report, “A European Agenda to Tax the Super-Rich” which comes ahead of EU Finance Ministers meeting to discuss ways to finance the EU’s budget.   

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, the European Commission presented its Tax Omnibus proposal to simplify tax rules and reduce bureaucracy across the EU. In response, Oxfam Tax Policy Expert, Julien Desiderio said: “Simplification is the European Commission’s latest euphemism for deregulation. At a time of record corporate profits and exploding inequality, after decades of a race to the bottom on effective corporate tax rates, the obvious response would be to ensure those who have gained the most contribute more. 

Only 3 percent of the more than 1,000 tax recommendations made by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to governments in recent years focus on taxing wealth and income from wealth, new analysis by Oxfam reveals ahead of the IMF and World Bank Spring Meetings in Washington, D.C.

The amount of wealth that the G20’s own billionaires made just last year – $2.2 trillion – would have been more than enough to lift 3.8 billion people out of poverty, says Oxfam. 

As you prepare to meet in Luxembourg on 20 June, we urge you to consider a matter of growing importance: the urgent need to establish new, fair, and sustainable resources for the European Union.