THE NEED FOR UK ACTION ON GLOBAL HUNGER - Enough Food IF

‘peopLe rightLy get angryWhen they WorK harDanD pay their taxeS butSee otherS not payingtheir fair Share. SothiS g8 WiLL SeeK tomaintain the momentumgenerateD by the g20 oninformation exchangeanD the Strengtheningof internationaL taxStanDarDS... anD We WiLLWorK With DeveLopingcountrieS to heLp themimprove their abiLity tocoLLect tax too.’(DAvID CAmERON, UK PRImEmINISTER, NOvEmBER 2012)far-reaching action is neededglobally to break open the financialsecrecy of tax havens, and makeit possible for tax authorities toscrutinise the schemes used bytransnational corporations and othersto evade and avoid paying tax indeveloping countries.stopping this huge drain ondeveloping countries’ public financeswill help make it possible, eventually,THE OECDESTIMATESTHAT MONEYLOST BYDEVELOPINGCOUNTRIESTO TAXHAVENSIS UP TOTHREE TIMESTHE GLOBALAID BUDGETfor countries to tackle hunger andundernutrition with their ownresources.2.1 hoW tax havenSfaciLitate tax DoDgingover half of world trade is nowconducted through tax havens, half ofall banking assets are held in offshoreaccounts and one third of foreigndirect investment is channelledthrough these accounts. 109 This secretworld allows vast amounts of moneyto be hidden from public scrutiny,facilitating tax dodging and massivelyreducing revenues that couldpromote development. The oecdestimates that developing countrieslose three times more to tax havensthan they receive in aid eachyear. 110 research by the Tax Justicenetwork estimates that us$21–32tnin financial wealth is being hiddenby rich individuals in tax havens. Ifthe capital gains on this wealth weretaxed at 30 per cent (a typical ratefor developing countries), it wouldgenerate revenues of us$190–280bna year. 111 This overshadows theus$42.7bn estimate required toachieve zero hunger and the us$10bnrequired to address malnutrition.dealing with the ‘corporation taxgap’ in developing countries could,according to research by the Ifcampaign, raise enough publicrevenues to save the lives of 230children under five every day; onechild every six minutes.33