Pharma Companies Avoid $3.8 Bln In Tax Per Year, Says Oxfam

(RTTNews) - Oxfam issued a report, 'Prescription for Poverty,' which analyzes the financial disclosures from Pfizer, Merck, Johnson & Johnson and Abbott, between 2013 and 2015 and finds these pharmaceutical companies appear to be dodging an estimated $3.8 billion in tax per year across 16 countries.

Oxfam's analysis suggests these four companies are shifting profits out of countries where they do their business and into tax havens that charge little or no tax. Oxfam said the available data reveals average pre-tax profit margins of just six percent in countries with standard tax rates, compared to 31 percent in the tax havens of the Netherlands, Belgium, Ireland and Singapore.

As per Oxfam's findings, the companies appear to be dodging an estimated $3.7 billion in taxes in nine developed countries including Australia, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, New Zealand, Spain, the UK, and the US. Of this an estimated $2.3 billion of tax was avoided per year in the US. The companies also appear to be avoiding an estimated $112 million per year of tax across seven developing countries including Thailand, India, Ecuador, Colombia, Pakistan, Peru and Chile.

Oxfam is an international confederation of 20 organizations working together with partners and local communities in more than 90 countries. The Oxfam International Secretariat is based in Oxford, UK.