Reacting to a Commission proposal to extend majority voting to all EU tax policies by the end of 2020, which is expected to be presented by EU Commissioner Pierre Moscovici today, S&D Group leader Udo Bullmann stated:

 

“Taxation is one of the last EU policy areas where decisions rely on unanimity. We cannot afford the anachronism of a national veto on taxation after the Panama Papers and Luxleaks have exposed the industrial scale of global tax evasion and its cross-border nature.

 

“Far too often, member states have blocked moves for fairer taxation only to protect their specific national tax models at the expense of European citizens. Unhealthy competition, for instance through tax rulings or specialised tax schemes, must stop. To achieve true progress in the field of taxation, unanimity must be dropped.

“Tax evasion is depriving society of billions of euros every year. Hard-working, honest people and companies, who play by the rules, foot the bill for the cheaters.

“After having led the battle against tax crimes for years, the Socialists and Democrats will present a follow-up study to a 2012 report next week. The 2012 study found evidence of a tax gap of one trillion euro – hence tax revenue lost due to evasion and fraud.

“The new report finds that the few measures implemented during the current parliamentary mandate have had a measurable impact on the size of this gap. This shows that cooperation to close loopholes in taxation pays off and must be beefed up.”

 

To learn more about the S&Ds commissioned study on tax evasion and the S&Ds proposals on fair taxation please get in touch: Silvia Pelz