A YouGov survey commissioned by ActionAid has found that most adults in the UK are unaware of the scale of illegal tax evasion by multinational companies operating in poor countries. Most of those questioned were surprised to learn that poor countries lose more money to tax evasion than they receive in aid.

Once they knew this, nearly two-thirds agreed that the UK should help developing countries to clamp down both on illegal tax evasion and on tax avoidance by the use of legal loopholes.

Anna Thomas, head of ActionAid’s tax justice campaign, said: “People are shocked when they learn that businesses are engaged in an illegal activity which sucks money out of poor countries faster than aid donors can pour it in. We think there will be strong public support for international action to stop this scandal.”

More than three out of four people (79%) said that they had been unaware that developing countries lose more money as a result of multinational companies illegally evading tax than they receive in aid.

Once they were given this information, nearly two-thirds (65%) agreed that the UK government should help developing countries acquire the tools to prevent both tax evasion and avoidance by multinational companies. More than three quarters (79%) said it was important for the government to push for stringent new international rules to prevent corporate tax evasion and avoidance at the next G20 international meeting.

Anna Thomas said: “This series of G20 meetings is a once in a generation window of opportunity for governments to change international tax rules in a way that works for poor countries. The G20 leaders made a commitment to do this last April; they must now turn that into concrete action by the end of the year.”

Tax experts meeting at the OECD forum in Mexico this week (1-2 September) will discuss proposals to help developing countries clamp down on tax dodging. The proposals will then be passed on to G20 finance ministers, who meet in London on Friday and Saturday (4-5 September) and in St Andrews in November. The proposals may also be considered by G20 leaders in the USA in late September.

At the London summit in April, the G20 committed itself to “developing proposals, by end 2009, to make it easier for developing countries to secure the benefits of a new cooperative tax environment”.

To ensure this commitment translates into tangible benefits for developing countries, ActionAid is bringing together a group of tax-justice activists called the Outlandish Revenue Service. “The Outlandish Revenue Service will go to ludicrous lengths to get tax justice for developing countries,” a spokesperson said.

Treasury staff, arriving in Whitehall for work today (1 September), will be met by workers from the charity offering them opportunities to work for the new service (unpaid, alas) and carry forward the battle against tax avoidance and evasion.