Further tax reform key to sustainable economic growth – Oxfam

G20 Finance Ministers must support more fundamental reforms to the global tax system as part of their plans to deliver sustainable economic growth said Oxfam today.

G20 Finance Ministers are meeting in Shanghai on 26 – 27 February to discuss policies aimed at boosting economic growth. They are also expected to endorse OECD plans on the implementation of the BEPS package of corporate tax reforms that for the first time opens up the process to all countries – including developing countries - on an equal footing.

Claire Godfrey, Oxfam's head of policy for the Even it Up Campaign, said:

“Finance ministers need to connect the dots.  Any plan to boost economic growth has to include further more fundamental reforms to the international tax system – including an end to tax havens. Governments lose billions of dollars every year because of corporate tax dodging – money which they need to invest in their economies and deliver sustainable economic growth.   

"By opening up the G20 tax reform process to developing countries, ministers have finally recognized that all countries must be at the table where international corporate taxation is concerned. However the current package of reforms will do little to help poor countries claim the billions they lose every year because of corporate tax dodging.  All countries must now work together in a truly international forum like the UN to agree a new package of reforms that ensures all countries - rich and poor - can claim the tax revenues owed to them. There can be no going back to a situation where a small group of countries set international tax rules for the rest of the world."