A group of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) has renewed calls for developing countries to tax the super-rich and stop tax abuse by multinational companies to raise funds for their developmental needs.
The NGOs, including African Monitor, Aid Link Organization-South Sudan, Alternative Information and Development Centre (AIDC), Child’s Destiny and Development Organisation (CHIDDO), Committee on Fiscal Studies, COSATU, Economic Justice Network, Fight Inequality Alliance (FIA), Friedrich Ebert Stiftung South Africa, and Health Taxes Alliance South Africa, say South Africa remains the most unequal country in the world, with the top 10% holding 86% of aggregate wealth and accounting for 40% of household consumption.
Recent statistics confirm that these inequalities persist along apartheid-era racial lines, while globally, inequality is also rising. While the number of people living in poverty has barely changed since 1990, 204 new billionaires were created in 2024 alone, and the wealth and power of large corporations have similarly increased over the past decade.
This is contained in a declaration following a meeting of like-minded NGOs in Johannesburg and Sevilla in Spain.
“We note with concern large-scale ongoing tax losses due to tax evasion by multinational corporations and the ultra-wealthy, estimated at $492bn each year. We recognise the fact that these outflows contribute to worsening austerity measures in South Africa and abroad, while pushing governments to adopt regressive tax measures such as VAT or fuel levy increases instead. These measures have the greatest impact on working-class people.
“Working-class people, including the unemployed, are both more reliant on public services and more likely to feel the impacts of regressive tax increases, such as a VAT or fuel levy increase. Tax dodging, therefore, not only makes the rich richer but also the poor poorer,” the NGOs said.
They added that the G20 Presidency by South Africa this year presents an opportunity for the country to champion the progressive tax reform agenda.
“We call on the South African government to take a leading role in efforts to reform international corporate taxation. Through the United Nations Framework Convention on International Tax Cooperation, the government can push for ambitious protocols which can end the tax race to the bottom and combat profit shifting by multinational corporations that don’t pay their fair share.”
