A new report by the Tax Justice Network has revealed that Nigeria loses $384 million each year due to global tax abuse.
This is part of a global annual loss of $492 billion caused by multinational corporations and wealthy individuals using tax havens to avoid paying taxes.
The report, called the 2024 State of Tax Justice, explained that $347.6 billion of the total loss comes from cross-border corporate tax abuse by multinational companies, while $144.8 billion is lost to individuals hiding wealth offshore.
“Lower-income countries lose five times as much as a share of their public health budgets, compared to higher-income countries,” the report stated, adding that tax abuse increases inequality and deprives governments of critical revenue for development.
The British Virgin Islands topped the report’s list of tax havens, followed by the Cayman Islands and Bermuda. Mauritius, the only African country on the list, ranked 15th.
The United Kingdom and its territories were identified as responsible for 26% of global tax losses, costing countries $129 billion annually.
The report noted that multinational corporations shift $1.42 trillion in profit to tax havens yearly, directly causing $348 billion in tax revenue losses worldwide. It criticized the failure of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development tax reforms, stating that corporations are underpaying more taxes while hiding profits offshore.
The Tax Justice Network urged countries to vote for a United Nations tax convention, calling it the “world’s best chance” to reform the global tax system. “Governments now have a chance to choose differently at the UN, to use tax to protect people, economies, and the planet,” the report said.
The negotiation of the UN tax convention is expected to be the most significant reform in global tax history and could prevent an estimated $5 trillion loss to tax havens over the next decade.
