Dear <<First Name>>
This week, CATJ has released its latest report – Global Tax Plan for a Global Pandemic – to coincide with the G20 Global Health Summit which is happening this weekend.
We are all no doubt very concerned with the spread of the covid virus in India. As things stand, India is third in the world for deaths having lost almost 300,000 to the disease. Those figures however are widely reported to be a huge underestimate.
Closer to home, we have seen worrying increases in the so-called Indian variant. Currently, our vaccines seem to be effective against this variant, but the spread remains a concern.
It is in light of these realities that we have written our report. What it shows is that reform of global tax rules in line with some recent suggestions could provide the necessary finance for lower income countries to vaccinate all of their population who are at risk of severe covid. In this way, the pandemic as a severe disease could be stopped both abroad and at home.
The Tax Justice Network (TJN) have recently analysed the amount of money that would be generated by implementation of Biden’s 21% global corporate minimum tax rate plus the METR proposal for reform of global tax rules. In total, around $640 billion that currently ends up in tax havens could be available to national governments across the globe. Tax Justice UK have launched a petition regarding this here.
In our report, we used the TJN calculations for a series of lower income countries and showed the proportion of their population they could vaccinate using those funds. The upshot was that the vast majority of 34 of the poorest countries in the world, including India, would have enough money to vaccinate everyone who was at risk of severe covid in their countries.
In the report, we make the point that ‘no-one is safe until everyone is safe’. We are currently witnessing huge global vaccine inequalities. Reforming the global tax rules is one way to generate the finance to end this injustice.
Thanks
Justin
PS We have just advertised the role of Programme Manager (CATJ Campaign). Please pass on to anyone who might be interested: https://www.charityjob.co.uk/jobs/the-ecumenical-council-for-corporate-responsibility/programme-manager-catj-campaign-/746246
In July, I shall be moving on to do some work with Christian Aid and Tearfund
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