Parliament on a wide range of measures to tackle tax fraud, tax evasion and avoidance, and aggressive tax planning in Europe.
In particular, the European Parliament wants the end of banking secrecy in the EU as of June 2015 and stressed that taxes must be paid where public services are consumed.
Eva Kaili said:
“This is the first parliamentary report presenting concrete proposals to fight tax evasion and avoidance following the revelations of the Luxleaks and Swissleaks scandals.
“We want the EU to take strong action to tackle corporate tax avoidance and aggressive tax planning. We have set out a long list of demands including measures to reduce the mismatches between tax systems; rules to extend country by country reporting to businesses in order to monitor where profits are located and where taxes are paid; and a common EU criteria to define tax haven.”
Before the vote, Euro MPs will debate the European Commission’s proposals on tax rulings with Commissioner Pierre Moscovici.
S&D Euro MP Elisa Ferreira who will draft the report of the special tax committee set up by the European Parliament stresses:
“In 2012, the S&D Group commissioned a report which revealed that an estimated € 1trillion of potential tax revenue is lost every year in Europe due to tax fraud and tax avoidance. The loss of such tax revenue means less public money for investments, schools and our social welfare systems and this is no longer acceptable in these times of crisis.
“The Socialists and Democrats fully support the Commission’s proposal to increase transparency on tax rulings negotiated between big companies and national authorities. This is a first step to improve the situation and bring fairness into the system.
“The exchange of information on tax rulings must indeed become automatic, and concern not only the Commission but all EU member states. However, the information on tax deals made between companies and governments so that multinationals reduce their tax liability should also be made public. Furthermore, the non-compliance of member states to these new rules should be addressed.
“We also want companies to reveal their profits, the number of employees and the assets they are holding in each country in which they operate. This rule which exists for financial institutions and extracting industries must be extended to all multinational companies.
“The Commission must also go further in the fight against tax havens and the companies that avoid tax and their advisors.
“Our European citizens deserve a fair tax system both in Europe and globally.”