The richest people are hiding approximately $3.55 trillion from taxes, which is more than the GDP of France and about 3.2% of global GDP, Oxfam reports.
The richest people from around the world are hiding approximately $3.55 trillion from taxes in offshore accounts and undeclared accounts, Oxfam reported on Thursday, April 2, the day before the 10th anniversary of the publication of the "Panama Papers." This amount exceeds the GDP of France ($3.16 trillion in 2024) and is more than double the combined GDP of the 44 least developed countries in the world, according to Oxfam's press release.
The wealthiest 0.1% of people in the world account for about $2.84 trillion—approximately 80% of all money held in offshore accounts. This amount, according to Oxfam, exceeds the wealth of the poorest half of humanity, which is 4.1 billion people. Furthermore, the wealthiest 0.01% hold $1.77 trillion.
As measures to combat tax evasion, Oxfam proposes increasing taxes on the wealthiest 1% of people in the world and introducing taxes on extreme wealth. Among other initiatives is strengthening international cooperation to eliminate offshore tax havens and achieve greater financial transparency.
After the Publication of the "Panama Papers," the Volume of Money in Offshore Accounts Increased, but the Untaxed Share Decreased
According to Oxfam's estimates, since the publication of the "Panama Papers" on April 3, 2016, the volume of offshore assets increased to $13.25 trillion in 2023—at that time, nearly 12.5% of global GDP. At the same time, as the organization points out, the share of offshore assets that are untaxed has significantly decreased and stabilized at around 3-4% of global GDP. For example, in 2024, the World Bank estimated global GDP at $110.8 trillion. The $3.55 trillion in offshore assets mentioned in Oxfam's press release, which are completely untaxed, account for approximately 3.2% of this amount.
The decrease in the share of untaxed offshore money, as the organization indicates, was facilitated by the launch of the Automatic Exchange of Information (AEOI) system in 2016-2017. By March 2025, 126 countries and jurisdictions had joined the AEOI reporting standard.
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