Tax Justice transformational moments of 2024

As 2024 wraps up, it’s time to reflect on the impactful work and achievements of the Tax Justice Network over the past year. From groundbreaking initiatives to significant policy wins, this year has been a testament to the power of collective action in advancing tax justice. While we’ve celebrated important victories, looming challenges remind us of the critical work still ahead. Here’s a look back at the key moments and milestones that defined our work in 2024.

The year 2024 has seen both the biggest leap forward for tax justice – but also a setback that could prove catastrophic.

The huge leap forward is the overwhelming General Assembly vote on the terms of reference for the UN Framework Convention on International Tax Cooperation. Tax is fundamental to effective and responsive states that can deliver for their people, and so it is perhaps appropriate that tax is now seen as leading many other areas in moving beyond colonial governance mechanisms (in this case, the OECD) and instead towards globally inclusive decision-making. Delegates now have until 2027 to shape the new governance collectively. The opportunity to end decades of tax abuse and to re-establish the scope for progressive taxation is within reach.

The setback this year is the dismal failure of the climate COP in Baku to deliver meaningful climate finance. The refusal, on the part of the countries with historic responsibility, threatens to ensure that the human-made climate crisis becomes truly catastrophic. The next few months will tell if the situation can be recovered. Evidently, the tax tools are there to deliver the minimum necessary of US$1.3 trillion per year, in ways that ensure progressive outcomes both within and between countries. The tax justice movement has become increasingly engaged in climate policy over the last few years and may have a critical supporting role in 2025.

Public Country by Country reporting

It was a good year for public country by country reporting, due to three main developments.

1. The EU Directive 2021/2021 This directive, which entered into force in December 2021 and applies to fiscal years commencing on 22 June 2024, has already been transposed by nearly all EU member states. As a result, these countries will soon have legislation in place for a wide-scope public country-by-country regime that applies to all sectors.
2. Australia’s new legislation: On 29 November 2024, the Australian Parliament passed new legislation. Under the new Australian requirements, large multinationals with substantial activities in Australia will soon begin disclosing comprehensive tax and operational data for a range of jurisdictions, some of which are highly ranked on our Corporate Tax Haven Index , including Singapore (ranked 5th) and Hong Kong (ranked 6th), none of which are currently subject to reporting requirements under any other legislation [The legislation is the Treasury Laws Amendment (Responsible Buy Now Pay Later and Other Measures) Bill 2024, available here. The specific element, ‘Schedule 4: Country by country reporting’, is detailed here].
3. U.S. submissions: In the United States, the first submissions of public country by country reports that apply to companies active in the extractive industries are expected to be filed by the end of 2024, including by the Big Oil companies. This comes after nearly 14 years of US Big Oil companies successfully preventing the reporting (included in the Dodd-Frank Act of 2010) by repeatedly challenging its implementation rules, both in court and in Congress. The required data includes information on mining royalties, dividends, fees, and a few other types of payments made to governments, as well as information on the amount of tax paid per country. The ICIJ details the long fight here.

Corporate Tax Haven Index

In October, we launched a redesigned website for our Corporate Tax Haven Index, which ranks countries based on their level of complicity in helping multinational corporations underpay corporate income taxes in other countries. The latest update to the Index shows that three British tax havens – the British Virgin Islands, the Cayman Islands, and Bermuda – retain the top three positions, respectively. The British Crown Dependency of Jersey ranked 8th once again, maintaining its position among the top ten.

Beneficial Ownership

There has been a very problematic European Court of Justice case law ruling in favour of the weaponisation of privacy, this time in favour of a law firm and against a tax administration that was seeking information on the creation of legal entities and investment funds. This may in fact be even worse than the original European Court of Justice ruling that invalidated public Beneficial Ownership.

One positive development this year, however, was the approval of the EU AML Package which, limited by the European Court of Justice ruling on public access, still tries to expand and facilitate access to Beneficial Ownership information for many stakeholders, including journalists, civil society organisations and academia, by recognising their “legitimate interest” to get access to info.

Tax Justice Network Research

Several of our research streams have seen significant developments in 2024. These include:

• As part of the State of Tax Justice 2024 report, we published estimates of the scale of corporate tax abuse and tax abuse related to offshore wealth for the six years of data that is currently available (2016-2021), highlighting the sad upward trend in the tax losses incurred due to these practices.
• We provided estimates of the potential tax revenues stemming from wealth taxes implemented at the national level, including a calculator that allows everyone to design their own wealth tax.
• Continued collaborations using administrative-level data with government authorities around the world – we ran capacity-building meetings within our existing work in Uganda, Nigeria, and Slovakia, and established new research collaborations in Honduras, Czechia, Zambia, Benin, Ghana, and Tanzania.
• We published a report that examines the fossil fuel financing provided by the 60 largest global banks, exploring how funds are strategically channelled through high-secrecy jurisdictions.
• We also continued to actively participate in the academic research environment. Some of our research outputs are now being published as part of the new Tax Justice Network Working Paper Series and we have presented papers at a number of international academic conferences.

The State of Tax Justice

Our annual State of Tax Justice 2024 report, launched in November, revealed countries are losing US$492 billion in tax a year to multinational corporations and wealthy individuals using tax havens to underpay tax. Nearly half the losses (43%) are enabled by the eight countries that remain, as of writing, opposed to a UN tax convention: Australia, Canada, Israel, Japan, New Zealand, South Korea, the UK and the US. (Argentina has recently become the ninth). The 2024 edition of the report is available here.

Tax Justice and Human Rights. 

International advocacy – UN Framework Convention on International Tax Cooperation 

The United Nations Framework Convention on International Tax Cooperation (UNFCITC) intergovernmental negotiations have continued to be an important focus of our advocacy work in 2024. We have actively contributed, in collaboration with a range actors, to shaping civil society engagement through both written and oral contributions. Our advocacy efforts extended beyond the tax justice movement (e.g. biodiversity, land use, human rights, climate, digital economy) to raise awareness of the UN Tax Convention and the relevance of our policy framework.  [UN Tax Subtopic] – Statements & Interventions  

We have tried to ensure that crucial issues like our ABC…G3 of tax transparency, the fight against illicit financial flows, and the recognition of human rights as a foundational principle remain central to the negotiations. Read more about CSO statements and interventions here. 

Throughout the year we provided key data and analysis to strengthen accountability for multi-stakeholder monitoring of the UN Tax Convention. Our figures, databases and summaries were used as a reference by other civil society organisations, journalists and negotiators. Here

Allied to our work on the UN Tax Convention has been an important collaboration with human rights advocates.  With our Litany of Failure briefing, we have turned the spotlight onto OECD failures in global tax governance. The briefing catalogues the various problematic issues that have emerged through the OECD’s leadership of standard-setting in international taxation.  Working closely with the Centre for Economic and Social Rights, the Minority Rights Group and other partners, we have also published this letter exchange with Manal Corwin, Director of the Centre for Tax Policy and Administration at the OECD cataloguing concerns regarding the impact of OECD tax policies on human rights. 

Right to Education  

In October, we published our Stolen Futures: The Impacts of Tax Injustice on the Right to Education report. The report investigates how revenue lost to tax abuse reduces funds available for education systems worldwide and explores how measures such as wealth taxes and raising tax-to-GDP ratios could unlock significant resources for education budgets. We presented our findings in November 2024 at the Global Education Meeting in Fortaleza, Brazil, a high-level gathering of Ministers of Education, Ministers of Finance, thought leaders, and advocates addressing sustainable strategies for education financing. (See also the Fortaleza Declaration). In preparation for the event, we also participated in UNESCO’s  webinar on education financing, where we shared preliminary findings and contributed to discussions on the critical role of tax justice in ensuring sustainable and equitable education financing.  For more on the Stolen futures report, please read: Press release  Launch blog  

We also published a collaborative C20 Education Working Group final paper that prioritises tax justice in the education agenda. Key opportunities emerging after the Stolen Futures publication include the Financing for Development 2024 and the Second World Summit for Social Development. Additionally, we engaged with the Global Education Monitoring countdown to 2030, addressing gaps in SDG4 implementation, including education financing.  

Our contributions have highlighted the importance of aligning tax justice with education financing and the need for progressive tax measures to achieve equitable and sustainable development outcomes .

Gender equality and women’s rights: CEDAW Brazil review (May 2024, Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women)

The Tax Justice Network, Institute of Socioeconomic Studies (INESC), Latindadd and Red de Justicia Fiscal para America Latina y Caribe successfully finalised and submitted a Shadow Report focusing on tax justice and women’s rights in Brazil. Together with Institute of Socioeconomic Studies representatives,  we participated in the 88th CEDAW session in Geneva, including a meeting with the Minister of Women and engaging with Ms Marion Bethel (CEDAW Committee chair), who utilised proposed questions and data to question the Brazilian delegation. We welcomed the opportunity to join a panel event with Geledés (Black Women Institute) to discuss the intersections of tax justice, gender, and racial inequalities. Additionally, the group published an op-ed in Carta Capital, participated in episode 62 of the É da sua conta podcast, and released several blog posts emphasising the Shadow Report’s recommendations. A post sessional  feedback workshop with Civil Society Organisations involved in the 2023 consultation was organised by the group. Those who connected up during the CEDAW review provided an exciting opportunity to collaboratively plan the next steps, including the development of a booklet on tax justice and women’s rights, capacity-building sessions for feminist organisations, and joint advocacy efforts in the Brazilian Congress, plus international events (this year around G20, and starting preparations for next year around the Beijing Declaration anniversary, the Brazilian presidency of the BRICS and COP30).  

On climate justice:  

In September we took a deeper dive into fossil fuel exposure and investigating banks and the shady offshore practices of fossil fuel companies. This work culminated in our report,“How ‘Greenlaundering’ Conceals the Full Scale of Fossil Fuel Financing”.  The report received extensive press coverage and we launched it at a collaborative event with Banking on Climate Chaos. 

Participating in the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights in Washington, DC was a humbling experience. The event centred on the voices and experiences of communities directly impacted by financial secrecy and Special Economic Zones, highlighting their efforts to advance climate justice (you can view that here). Additionally, we strengthened our connections within the global climate movement through the FAIR convening in Istanbul. 

Events

In March, we collaborated with a number of civil society organisations to host an international policy and research conference at the Paris School of Economics, to explore the question ‘How can a UN Tax Convention address inequality in Europe and beyond?’. The two-day conference brought together academics, journalists, policymakers and activists to consider the potential of a UN Tax Convention to support meaningful progress against tax abuse, reduce inequalities within and between countries, and to strengthen the ability of states to respond to the climate crisis. The conference featured keynote speeches from Gabriel Zucman, Economist and Director of the EU Tax Observatory, Bjørg Sandkjær, State Secretary of Norway, and María Fernanda Valdés, Deputy Minister of Finance of Colombia.

The Tax Justice Network reaching people.

Communications and media

The Tax Justice Network continued to bring tax justice issues to more people through our media and online work in 2024. Our research and commentary was featured in over 3,200 media and press articles in over 120 countries with a reach of over 30,011,600,000. Over 319,000 sessions occurred on the Tax Justice Network website in 2024.

Our podcasts (advocating for tax justice in five languages)

Tax Justice Network podcasts are available wherever you get your podcasts or on our podcast website. They’re all productions by different teams focused on their regions. To give you a little taste, here’s just a few of the highlights in our podcasts this year:

On the Taxcast (in English) we kicked off 2024 with inspiring stories on campaigns for tax reform from around the world: strategies, successes, limitations, and what we can learn from the first in-depth studies of their kind. We also provided some in-depth coverage on crypto risks, looking at blockchain havens and crypto heists, as well as presenting our research on the international scandal of Greenlaundering, following the money which shows how financial secrecy is allowing banks to hide the true scale of their backing for activities that are accelerating the climate crisis. Our Taxcasts have also followed the successes of negotiations at the United Nations progressing towards a UN Tax Convention, as well as looking at potential corruption of the global rule maker on tax, the ‘rich country club’ of the OECD. We also provided analysis on the world’s moment of clarity regarding Donald Trump’s election win, All’s Not Lost and ended the year with a look at a $6.2 million banana artwork purchase (a sad illustration of the urgent need for wealth taxes) and how governments can apply our wealth tax proposal which could help governments increase their national budgets by 7 percent a year, a potential global revenue of more than 2 trillion US dollars annually.

On the Spanish podcast, Justicia Impositiva, one popular episode looked at the little known fact that nominee directors enabling financial secrecy are so often women (El secreto fiscal… tiene cara de mujer), we looked at the implications of Javier Milei’s election victory in Argentina ( La victoria de Milei),the election victory of Claudia Sheinbaum in Mexico,(La victoria de Claudia Sheinbaum en México), the implications for Latin America of Trump’s victory (los impuestos según Donald Trump) and alternative economic development models.

On our Arabic podcast الجباية ببساطة among other subjects, we’ve looked at fiscal reforms in Tunisia, how the Corporate Tax Haven Index impacts the Arab region, Dubai Leaks, we asked why Morocco has all the ingredients yet isn’t creating wealth and jobs, we traced the history of Bretton Woods and the movement away from its founding goals, the black market in Egypt, and ‘zombie banks’ – money laundering in Lebanon.

Our Portuguese podcast É Da Sua Conta covered inspiring stories on campaigns for tax reform from around the world (Mudanças tributárias nas nossas mãos), progress at the United Nations on a Tax Convention (Passos históricos para convenção tributária equitativa), calls to use tax as a tool for better public health by taxing ultra-processed food and keeping healthy food cheap (Comida saudável barata, ultraprocessada com imposto), how the United Kingdom combined with its satellite havens top the Coporate Tax Haven Index (Facilitar abuso fiscal é neocolonização do Reino Unido), tax justice and the financing of education (Futuros roubados pela injustiça fiscal), taxes and rights for women and girls (Primeiro justiça fiscal, depois flores!) and climate crisis (Poluidores devem pagar pela crise climática)

In our French podcast Impôts et Justice Sociale we looked at climate crisis and secrecy (L’opacité, un moyen clair pour financer le chaos climatique), the UK and its satellite havens as the top offender facilitating tax justice according to latest updates to our Corporate Tax Haven Index, (Pour aider l’Afrique, le Royaume-Uni peut mieux éliminer les paradis fiscaux), lots of coverage on progress on a UN Tax Convention including L’ONU ne doit pas devenir un nouveau scénario de l’OCDE sur la justice fiscale, and financial transparency and education for all, (Transparence, Justice, et Education pour tous au cœur du débat fiscal).

And finally, in 2024 we launched and concluded Series 1 of The Corruption Diaries, an easy listening podcastwith 44 episodeswhich takes you on a journeythrough the eyes of anti-corruption veterans with their unique perspectives from a lifetime spent combating the most compelling ethical challenges of our time. Series 1 features conversations with Jack Blum, one of the US’s leading white-collar crime lawyers, specialised in investigating money laundering, financial crime and international tax abuse.  Series 2 is coming in 2025.