You have the power to make your MP work on the issues you care about.
Did you know the extreme gap between rich and poor is undermining the fight against poverty? It’s tearing our societies apart and damaging our economies. Inequality grows and women and girls suffer the most as a result.
What can you do?
Meet your MP and demand a Fair Tax Now!
Meeting your MP is one of the most powerful things you can do and is a surefire way to get their attention. MPs rely on your support and the support of others within your electorate to keep their job. This means your views and your vote are very important to them.
Go ahead and book a meeting. Your contribution will make the world a fairer place.
See our guide below if you need a hand to work out how to have the best possible meeting with your MP, or download our handy fact sheet to help you prepare. You can give us a call on 0800 600 700 between 9am and 5pm and ask for our Advocacy and Campaigns Director, Jo, if you have further questions. Or email her at joanna.spratt@oxfam.org.nz.
The issue
Many governments are fuelling the inequality crisis by failing to clamp down on tax avoidance; multinational corporations and wealthy individuals are not paying their fair share. This means fewer funds for vital public services like healthcare and education. Millions are missing out on education or can’t see a doctor when they are sick, while corporations profit from low tax bills.
All over the world, people are demanding change. Oxfam is joining these voices and demanding that governments invest in public services to fight inequality, poverty and gender injustice.
The solution
New Zealand has taken positive steps towards addressing tax avoidance within our nation. But there are still huge loopholes within the international tax system. We need greater transparency and for our government to require multinational corporations to publish their key financial information from every country in which they operate. This is called public Country-by-Country Reporting.
Public Country-by-Country Reporting will allow members of the public, tax authorities, journalists and civil society organisations to hold these big corporations to account and to stop the loss of essential funds.
Shocking Inequality Facts:
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- The number of billionaires has doubled since the financial crisis, with a new billionaire created every two days between 2017 and 2018, yet wealthy individuals and corporations pay lower rates of tax than they have in decades.
- Billionaire fortunes increased by 12 percent last year – or $2.5 billion a day - while the 3.8 billion people who make up the poorest half of humanity saw their wealth decline by 11 percent, or $500 million a day.
- Tax rates for wealthy individuals and corporations have been cut dramatically. The top rate of personal income tax in rich countries fell from 62 percent in 1970 to just 38 percent in 2014. The average rate in poor countries is just 28 percent.
- Poor countries lose $170 billion of tax revenues every year as a result of tax avoidance by wealthy individuals and corporations – this is money that could be invested in vital public services such as healthcare and education.
- In some countries like the Democratic of Congo women are regularly held prisoners in hospitals because they cannot pay their bills, and the bodies of children and other relatives who have died are not released until bills are paid.
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