PHM-Exch> International corporate tax avoidance and domestic government health expenditure

[Claudio Schuftan]

International corporate tax avoidance and domestic government health
expenditure Bernadette Ann-Marie O’Hare Objective

To compare estimated losses from international corporate tax avoidance in
individual countries and domestic government health expenditure, with
reference to the annual threshold of 86 United States dollars (US$) per
capita required to achieve universal health coverage.
Methods

I obtained and compared estimates of international corporate tax avoidance
and domestic government health expenditure for 2013.
Findings

Data were available for 100 countries: 24 low-, 28 lower-middle-, 21
upper-middle- and 27 high-income countries. Domestic government health
expenditure was under US$ 86 per capita in all 24 low-income countries and
in 24 of 28 lower-middle-income countries. International corporate tax lost
per capita was higher than domestic government health expenditure in 19
low-income and 10 lower-middle-income countries. If the revenue lost to tax
avoidance were recouped and allocated to the health sector, average annual
government health expenditure could increase from US$ 8 to US$ 24 per
capita in the low-income countries studied and from US$ 54 to US$ 91 per
capita in the lower-middle-income countries.
Conclusion

Recouping losses due to international corporate tax avoidance and
allocating them to the health sector would help low- and
lower-middle-income countries achieve universal health coverage, a target
of sustainable development goal (SDG) 3. Tackling tax avoidance requires
cooperation between the governments of all countries, multinational
corporations and investors, including private individuals. International
cooperation to improve domestic resource mobilization is the focus of
SDG target 17.1.

November 2019 issue
<http://www.who.int/bulletin/volumes/97/11/en/index.html> of the WHO
Bulletin
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