Make Tax Fair campaign

Corporate tax avoidance - big companies artificially lowering their tax bills - deprives the world’s poorest countries of the money they need to tackle poverty. With campaigning for the General Election in full swing, tax dodging is shaping up to be a key issue. New ActionAid research has revealed that more than 8 in 10 of people in the UK want to see the next UK government clamp down on tax havens and corporate tax avoidance.

In April 2016 the Panama Papers broke open the secret world of tax havens. The leak of 11.5 million files from the law firm Mossack Fonseca gave the world a look into nearly fifty years of the relationship between tax, tax dodging and tropical tax havens. That scandal has been followed by controversy over Apple’s tiny tax bill and a leak of more than a million tax haven files from the Bahamas. UK Prime Minister Theresa May has rightly called for a crackdown on tax dodging. Ahead of the Conservative Party Conference we look at what she can do to deliver on that call. 

Whether you're young or old, African or European, tax dodging by multinational companies affects us all in many ways. I'm 26 years old and pay my tax, so it angers me when I hear reports of companies like Amazon and Starbucks not paying their fair share. The more I've learnt about tax dodging in the UK, the more I wanted to find out what damage was being done in developing countries. The IMF estimates that they lose around $200billion a year to tax avoidance. To find out more, I asked Oyin and Fraser, two ActionAid campaigners from Nigeria and Malawi about their experiences. 

This weekend the G20 (the international forum for governments and central bank governors from 20 major economies) will meet in China at their annual summit. Among them will be the UK's new Prime Minister, Theresa May. She has the perfect opportunity to deliver on a promise she made on the steps of Number 10 as she took office: to create an economy that works for the majority and not just the privileged few. This includes tackling the deeply unfair global taxation system.​

Taxes are a key building block of society. When tax works, it pays for roads, schools, hospitals and much more. But when taxes  aren't paid there is a real human impact, with the world's poorest women and children paying the price for the lack of public services. Read on to hear from people affected by tax dodging, and what we can do to stop this.

From launching the campaign for a fair UK-Malawi tax treaty to some exciting developments from our colleagues campaigning in Zambia and Ireland, it's been a busy few months for our Make Tax Fair campaign. Lots of progress has been made, but there's still a way to go yet. Read on to find out about the great news from Ireland and Zambia and how you can get more involved in our campaign.