London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Tuesday, Oct 07, 2025

big tech

Research Shows Big Tech Avoided $2.8 Billion in Tax to Developing Countries

Twenty countries across Asia, Africa, and South America are missing out on as much as US$2.8 billion in tax revenue from Facebook, Apple, and Google alone, new research by the organization ActionAid revealed on Monday. 
The organization, which focuses on issues related to social justice and inequality, referred to its findings as “just the tip of the iceberg” within the larger issue of how multinationals rely on tax havens to lower their tax bills – depriving countries of desperately needed revenue amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to its findings, if these three ‘Big Tech’ companies had been fairly taxed, the governments could save enough in just three years to employ nearly 2 million nurses throughout the 20 countries it studied, meeting the World Health Organization (WHO) 2030 benchmark of 40 nurses per 10,000 people.

“The Covid-19 pandemic has confirmed the urgent need to reprogram our tax systems,” said Alex Cobham, CEO of the Tax Justice Network in response to Monday’s findings. While local businesses have closed due to lockdowns, tech companies – which continue to book record profits – are not making a fair tax contribution, he noted.

ActionAid acknowledges that little is known about how much Facebook, Apple, and Google actually pay in taxes to developing countries, as that information is not a matter of public record. The organization said that it calculated the multi-billion dollar “tax gap” by taking the estimated number of tech users in each of the 20 countries in relation to their GDP per capita in order to approximate the true level of profits booked by the three tech firms.

“If all governments compelled all companies to publicly report their financials in each country where they have a presence, a clear route to fair taxation would be possible,” the organization said, arguing that the global community should push for country-by-country reporting where companies are required to declare where their true profits are booked.

The organization also advocates establishing a global minimum rate of corporate tax so that multinationals can not shop for tax havens to deny revenue to countries and individuals that are most in need.

“Governments urgently need this money to fund public services such as healthcare and social protection for the billions of people affected by the Covid-19 pandemic,” the report said.

“Women and young people are paying the price for an outdated system that has allowed big tech companies, including giants like Facebook, Alphabet [Google] and Microsoft, to rack up huge profits during the pandemic, while contributing little or nothing towards public services in countries in the global south,” said David Archer, global taxation spokesperson for ActionAid.
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Three Scientists Awarded Nobel Prize in Medicine for Discovery of Immune Self-Tolerance Mechanism
OpenAI and AMD Forge Landmark AI-Chip Alliance with Equity Option
Munich Airport Reopens After Second Drone Shutdown
France Names New Government Amid Political Crisis
Trump Stands Firm in Shutdown Showdown and Declares War on Drug Cartels — Turning Crisis into Opportunity
Surge of U.S. Billionaires Transforms London’s Peninsula Apartments into Ultra-Luxury Stronghold
Pro Europe and Anti-War Babiš Poised to Return to Power After Czech Parliamentary Vote
Jeff Bezos Calls AI Surge a ‘Good’ Bubble, Urges Focus on Lasting Innovation
Japan’s Ruling Party Chooses Sanae Takaichi, Clearing Path to First Female Prime Minister
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Sentenced to Fifty Months in Prison Following Prostitution Conviction
Taylor Swift’s ‘Showgirl’ Launch Extends Billion-Dollar Empire
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
Supreme Court Extends Freeze on Nearly $5 Billion in U.S. Foreign Aid at Trump’s Request
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
China Deploys 2,000 Workers to Spain to Build Major EV Battery Factory, Raising European Dependence
Speed Takes Over: How Drive-Through Coffee Chains Are Rewriting U.S. Coffee Culture
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Ringo Starr Champions Enduring Beatles Legacy While Debuting Las Vegas Art Show
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
FBI Removes Agents Who Kneeled at 2020 Protest, Citing Breach of Professional Conduct
Trump Alleges ‘Triple Sabotage’ at United Nations After Escalator and Teleprompter Failures
Shock in France: 5 Years in Prison for Former President Nicolas Sarkozy
Tokyo’s Jimbōchō Named World’s Coolest Neighbourhood for 2025
European Officials Fear Trump May Shift Blame for Ukraine War onto EU
BNP Paribas Abandons Ban on 'Controversial Weapons' Financing Amid Europe’s Defence Push
Typhoon Ragasa Leaves Trail of Destruction Across East Asia Before Making Landfall in China
The Personality Rights Challenge in India’s AI Era
Big Banks Rebuild in Hong Kong as Deal Volume Surges
Italy Considers Freezing Retirement Age at 67 to Avert Scheduled Hike
Italian City to Impose Tax on Visiting Dogs Starting in 2026
Arnault Denounces Proposed Wealth Tax as Threat to French Economy
Study Finds No Safe Level of Alcohol for Dementia Risk
Denmark Investigates Drone Incursion, Does Not Rule Out Russian Involvement
Lilly CEO Warns UK Is ‘Worst Country in Europe’ for Drug Prices, Pulls Back Investment
Nigel Farage Emerges as Central Force in British Politics with Reform UK Surge
×