The Biggest Facilitators of Global Tax Abuse

The Cayman Islands is responsible for the largest global tax losses, and by some margin. Estimates from the newly released State of Tax Justice 2020 report indicate that in the average year a $70.4 billion chunk of tax revenue is lost around the world due to the territory's facilitation of corporate tax abuse and private tax evasion. This accounts for a sixth of all global losses.

Other renowned tax havens such as Luxembourg and the British Virgin Islands are also present at the top end of this list but it is the United Kingdom which comes closest to the Cayman Islands with a total of $42.5 billion - ten percent of the world's total losses.

Commenting on the scale of the problem, Alex Cobham, chief executive of the Tax Justice Network, said: “A global tax system that loses over $427 billion a year is not a broken system, it’s a system programmed to fail. Under pressure from corporate giants and tax haven powers like the Netherlands and the UK’s network, our governments have programmed the global tax system to prioritise the desires of the wealthiest corporations and individuals over the needs of everybody else."