Reacting to the communique issued at the conclusion of 3rd G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors (FMCBG) meeting under the South African presidency, Nkateko Chauke, Interim Executive Director at Oxfam South Africa said:
“Although the G20 acknowledged the need to reform the international tax system, it ignored the elephant in the room: the super-rich continue to evade taxes through legal loopholes and tax havens. Meanwhile governments in Africa and other low-income countries are forced to institute regressive taxes like VAT to raise more revenues, hence fuelling inequality and worsening poverty.
“A fair global tax system must start by supporting the efforts of UN Tax Convention and ending the veto power of tax havens.
“As droughts, floods, and climate devastation threaten the Global South and beyond, the G20’s inaction is a betrayal. They must urgently deliver on the Baku-to-Belém roadmap by securing public, grant-based climate finance, led by the richest polluters. Their focus on private finance and carbon markets dangerously evades responsibility, burdening the poorest. The money is there—it's time to tax the super-rich and fossil fuel excessive profits.
“We urge the G20 to follow the South African G20 Presidency’s call for solidarity, equality and sustainability. That includes backing bold proposals like taxing the super-rich, as supported in the Brazilian G20 Leaders’ Declaration and the recent UN Conference on Financing for Development in Seville. Fair taxation is essential to fight inequality and fund public services.”
Oxfam’s latest report Africa’s inequality crisis and the rise of the super-rich reveals that at present, just four of Africa’s richest billionaires hold more wealth than half of the continent’s population combined.
The report finds that the richest 5% in Africa hold nearly $4 trillion in wealth — more than double the combined wealth of the remaining 95%.
It shows that an extra tax of 1% on wealth and 10% on income of Africa’s richest 1% could raise $66 billion annually — enough to close the funding gaps for free quality education and universal access to electricity.
Despite worsening poverty, African governments remain the least committed globally to tackling inequality, and many are cutting spending on health, education and social protection to repay debt.