Africa: Corporate Tax Dodging Cheats Africa Out of 6 Billion Dollars, Says Oxfam - by Sean Buchanan

G7-based companies and investors cheated Africa out of an estimated six billion dollars in a year through just one form of tax dodging, according to a new Oxfam report 'Money talks: Africa at the G7', released Jun. 2.

This is equivalent to three times the amount needed to plug the healthcare funding gap in the Ebola-affected countries of Sierra Leone, Liberia, Guinea and at-risk Guinea Bissau.

According to an Oxfam briefing paper release in April this year, an estimated 1.7 billion dollars is required to close the healthcare funding gap to improve dangerously inadequate health systems in these countries. This figure is based on raising spending to the recommendation of the World Health Organisation (WHO) that 86 dollars per capita is required to achieve the minimum package of essential services.

"Multinational companies, many with headquarters in the US  United Kingdom and other G7 countries, are cheating African countries out of billions of dollars in vital tax revenues that could help vulnerable people get decent healthcare and send their children to school",   saysNick Brye, Oxfam's Head of U.K. Campaigns

Read more: allAfrica.com: Africa: Corporate Tax Dodging Cheats Africa Out of 6 Billion Dollars, Says Oxfam