Tax campaigning in pictures

We take a look back at the last few years in our campaign for tax justice.

In 2009 the huge cost of tax dodging in poor countries was revealed by our ‘Pinstripe Pirates’ — developing countries lose $160bn a year through tax dodging, more than three times the global aid budget.

In 2010 we took our ‘Trace the Tax’ campaign directly to the private sector. Our tax superhero awards highlighted the damage caused by tax dodging to companies at the annual tax awards in London.

In 2011 supporters took the campaign to four companies in the FTSE 100 — calling on them to lead the way in tax transparency. Stunts around the country (like this one outside the Holiday Inn in London) opened doors and discussions in company headquarters to help us push positive tax policy at a higher level.

In 2012 Savior Mwamba from Zambia joined us on the Tax Justice Bus Tour to explain to church groups and politicians across the UK how tax dodging is affecting developing countries. The Tax Justice Bus toured the UK for 53 days attracting media coverage and gaining support from MPs, with some even starting their own tax campaigns.

In 2013 tax became a prominent feature of the ‘IF’ campaign — with tax dodging shown to be a major driver of hunger and poverty in developing countries. Here campaigners created the Isle of Shady on London’s Southbank, drawing attention to the billions of US dollars Africa loses to tax dodging each year.

In 2014, following announcements to crack down on tax dodging at the G8 summit, Christian Aid supporters took part in our ‘Phantom Firms’ campaign, with over 20,000 people people writing to Vince Cable persuading him to take action on the secrecy of UK company ownership. Here our Russian doll businessmen appear outside the Liberal Democrat party conference to highlight how companies can hide their identity within shell companies, one within another, within another. This campaign continues, directed at the UK’s various tax havens.

In 2015 campaigners highlighted the amount of money lost to tax dodging as they called on the Treasury and Shadow chancellor to implement a Tax Dodging Bill after the UK general election. Whilst no such bill was passed, a number of its elements (which don’t go far enough), were put forward independently by the UK government. Elements such as the so-called ‘Google tax’ show just how mainstream the issue of tax dodging has become in a very short time.