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European United Left / Nordic Green Left (GUE/NGL)

GUE/NGL MEPs dismiss European Commission’s corporate tax package as business as usual

Mercredi, 3 février 2016 - 6h58 AM

mercredi 3 février 2016

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Strasbourg 03/02/2016

During the debate in the European Parliament following the release of the European Commission’s corporate tax package, GUE/NGL MEPs have criticised the package as not ambitious enough and ineffective.

GUE/NGL coordinator for the TAXE committee, Fabio De Masi, responded to the Commission’s package : « Here we see business as usual. This is the third taxation package and yet Luxleaks could be repeated. Thirty per cent of profits can still be transferred to lower tax regimes, which is really at the maximum limit of what the OECD consider as acceptable. »

« There are still no blacklists. The EU cannot adopt a leading role in combatting aggressive tax planning. This European Commission and its lack of ambition is something that we and the honest tax payers cannot accept. »

Portuguese MEP, Marisa Matias, commented : « If you look at Luxleaks and what has followed, we see the European project under threat with big companies avoiding tax
and therefore huge sums of euros not going into the coffers of member states. That money therefore cannot be spent on schools, hospitals and other public services. It also means that working people and SMEs end up footing a greater tax bill. »

Matias addressed questions specifically to Commissioner Moscovici : « When are we actually going to start seriously tackling abuse by multinational corporations ? When are we going to start seriously addressing the issue of tax havens ? When are we going to look at the permanent base of a company and have a warning system to help avoid scandals ? »

Portuguese MEP, Miguel Viegas, added : « Today we have heard that multinational companies do not pay tax. This has been the case for decades and member states governments have been complicit. This happens because of liberalisation of economies and movements of capital. Politicians are bound to big business and the resulting fiscal inequity is unacceptable. »

Viegas also raised specific questions over the Commission’s package : « Will this country-by-country reporting lead to a situation where 70 to 90 per cent of multinationals are still not covered ? Will we continue like this or will we finally tackle the key issues ? »

GUE/NGL Press Contact :

Nikki Sullings +32 22 83 27 60 / +32 483 03 55 75

Gay Kavanagh +32 473 84 23 20

European United Left / Nordic Green Left (GUE/NGL)

European Parliamentary Group