ACTION AID RESEARCH ON TAX HAVENS

That this House is shocked to learn from Action Aid, the leading overseas aid organisation, the fact that 98 per cent. of the FTSE 100 listed companies use tax havens and that they locate at least a quarter of their subsidiaries within them; and notes the main reason given for them doing so is to avoid corporation tax, a strategy which may be financially beneficial to their accounts, but which is having a massively detrimental impact upon developing countries who it is estimated are losing three times more to tax havens than they actually receive each year in international aid.