Making a Killing: How tax scams are robbing poor countries of life-saving healthcare

The world’s poorest countries are losing billions of potential tax revenue each year as a result of illicit financial flows and the tax dodging schemes associated with them.

These complex and shadowy tax dealings are robbing developing countries of revenue they need to spend on essential public services.

Making a Killing analyses one part of the web of illicit financial flows, the ‘misinvoicing’ of international trade – a way of hiding the true value of imports and exports, shifting profits and evading taxes.

The figures are staggering. The sums being lost are comparable to the amounts currently missing from the health budgets of very poor countries – lost money that could boost total budgets and pay for desperately needed doctors, nurses, clinics, hospitals and medicines, and provide the basic minimum of decent healthcare to mothers and children.

If the world is to meet its ambitious targets on health and child survival, let alone the broader objectives of the Sustainable Development Goals, illicit financial flows must be urgently addressed. This reports sets out recommendations for action by the international community.