Tax Havens Free Zones. Where think global, act local is more than just a slogan.

Rodrigo Barahona Active citizenship, Inequality, Influencing, Tax

Rodrigo Barahona and Susana Ruiz describe how the Tax Havens Free Zones initiative is gathering momentum in the fight against inequality and poverty. When large companies and wealthy individuals divert part of their income to tax havens, this leaves governments without the resources they need to address poverty and invest in healthcare, education and jobs. Oxfam analyzed 200 of the …

New voices tearing up outdated economic norms and practices

Kwesi Obeng Active citizenship, Economics, Gender, Inequality, Tax

Young women in Ghana are calling out the double standards that put them at an economic disadvantage.  Kwesi W Obeng draws parallels with Oxfam’s work on tax and gender. Some of Ghana’s brightest and most educated young women are openly criticising deeply entrenched cultural, social and religious norms that restrict women, dim aspirations and undermine their contribution to society. Under …

Taxing wealth is key to fighting inequality

Didier Jacobs Economics, Gender, General, In the news, Inequality, Private sector, Tax

Conventional wisdom about taxing wealth is shifting, writes Didier Jacobs, Oxfam America’s Senior Policy Advisor. Long dismissed as unfeasible, and frowned upon as politically incorrect, radical ideas are now gaining ground. The new star on the left of the US Democratic Party, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, suggests increasing the top income tax rate to 70%. That sounds more radical than Bernie Sanders’ …

Feminist solutions to man-made economic inequality

Anam Parvez Economics, Education, Gender, Health, In the news, Inequality, Tax, Women's Economic Empowerment

Francesca Rhodes, Gender Policy Advisor, Man-Kwun Chan, Influencing Advisor, Women’s Economic Empowerment and Care, and Anam Parvez Butt, Gender Justice Research Lead at Oxfam GB outline some of the key ways public spending and taxation could reduce gender inequality. In the words of feminist activist, Paula Varela: ‘Women… have the majority of the precarious jobs, and we perform the overwhelming …

Motivating people to take action: towards an Asian narrative on tax justice and financial transparency

Amy Croome Active citizenship, Economics, Inequality, Influencing, Tax

Amy Croome, from Oxfam GB, interviews fellow researchers, and civil society actors, on approaches, challenges, and opportunities to tax justice in Asia. For two days academics, activists and civil society actors came together in Delhi to discuss tax justice, illicit financial flows and tax havens in Asia.  A key theme was the important role of narratives in motivating people to …

Wealth and income inequality: two trends, one story

Diego Vazquez Inequality, Living wage, Tax

As Oxfam launches it’s Reward Work, Not Wealth report, Diego Vazquez takes us through the difference between income and wealth.  One of the most interesting findings in the latest Davos report is that whilst the inequality crisis continues to increase with the accumulation of the world´s wealth by a just few billionaires, global income inequality has decreased during the last …