Poverty robs people of dignity and hope. Developing countries lose over $160 billion annually to tax dodging by corporations using tax havens. This money could fund important services but instead is greater than the total aid received. Many large companies legally and illegally use tax havens like the Cayman Islands to avoid taxes on profits made in developing countries by creating shell subsidiaries that declare little to no profits. Campaigns call on world leaders to increase transparency and require companies to report all profits to close tax haven loopholes.

1. Poverty is an outrage against
humanity. It robs people of
dignity, freedom and hope, of
power over their own lives.
Christian Aid, 2012

3. It is estimated that $160 billion a year
is denied to developing countries
because of tax dodging.
Think about what all that money could be spent
on!

5. Developing countries are losing more
from tax dodging than they receive in
aid (from governments of rich
countries and from charities like
OXFAM) each year.

6. First, a bit about tax ......
• We all pay tax – income tax, VAT (value-added
tax) on most things we buy, road tax, council tax
etc. Most of this tax goes to central
government, some to local government (ie
Harrow council). Then it gets spent on things like
schools, hospitals, defence, social services etc.
• Like individuals, companies also pay tax
(corporation tax) on their profits. This also goes
to the government to spent on schools, hospitals
etc.

7. So why aren’t poor countries getting
the tax income they should?

8. ......Because lots of big companies that
operate in poor countries are legally
and illegally using tax havens.

9. A tax haven has.....
•Very low or zero levels of tax.
•High levels of financial secrecy.

10. How does it work?
• A parent company creates a subsidiary company (a
linked but separate company) in a tax haven that
collects profits made by the company in other
countries. Other countries may include Britain but
often include developing countries in Asia and Africa
where products like clothes and electronic equipment
is made.
• The tax haven charges little or no tax on the profits.
• The identity and bank accounts of the parent and
subsidiary companies can be kept secret so the true
amount of profits and dodged tax stays hidden.

11. “There’s a building in the Cayman
Islands that houses supposedly 12,000
US corporations. That’s either the
biggest building in the world or the
biggest tax scam in the world.”
Barack Obama, US President

13. There are tax havens in ....
• Europe (including Lichtenstein, Luxembourg
and Switzerland),
• islands linked to Britain’s former empire
(including the Bahamas, Dubai, the Cayman
Islands and Jersey) and
• countries in the US zone of influence
(including the American Virgin Islands).

14. What can we do?
A group of organisations across the world including
Christian Aid and ActionAid in the UK are calling on
world leaders in the G20 (20 of the world’s most
powerful economies) to end tax haven secrecy by
•requiring tax information all over the world to be
transparent.
•Requiring multi national companies to report on all
profits made all over the world, including their
subsidiaries.

15. Join the Trace the Tax campaign
Use ActionAid and Christian Aid websites to find
out what you can do and how you can campaign
against tax haven secrecy.