In the midst of a very difficult economic situation, it has never been more urgent to repair our broken tax system, including by addressing large-scale corporate tax avoidance. Instead of removing the tax loopholes related to debt financing, the European Commission is instead suggesting the introduction of new tax incentives related to equity financing, which could potentially open up new avenues for corporate tax avoidance.

A UN Convention on Tax would, for the first time, create a truly global framework where all countries can participate on an equal footing. The UN is the only truly universal body that exists, making it the obvious place to anchor a truly global convention on tax.

Rather than an ambitious reform of the corporate tax rules, today's EU tax package is a Christmas present to all the multinational corporations that will be able to continue paying very low taxes.

The European Parliament has rubberstamped a new EU Directive which has public country by country reporting (CBCR) in name only. 

The move, which challenges the OECD's dominance as the place where global tax rules are written, is a strong sign that many developing countries do not consider the discussion about global tax rules to be over.

The OECD has produced a deal that has strong biases towards the interests of larger and richer countries, at the expense of the world’s poorest countries.

This evening, the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) published yet another global tax scandal – known as the #PandoraPapers. The investigation – which included over 600 journalists in 117 countries – presents the findings from a leak of more than 12 million documents. Once again, at the centre of the scandal is the use of secret shell companies by politicians and the ultra-wealthy elite.

Today's agreement is not fair nor ambitious, and there is a high risk of it leading to a more complex and ineffective tax system.

“We’re in a middle of a global crisis, but while many big multinational corporations are cashing in record profits, large-scale corporate tax avoidance continues to cost our societies billions of Euros in lost tax income every year. We know that public country by country reporting can help solve this problem, and that is why we need urgent action. Sadly, today’s agreement has been watered down so much that it will not be effective.”

It has never been more urgent and important to fix our broken corporate tax system.

While the Commission’s state aid cases are important for shining a light on the problems, they are not the solution. We need to throw the current corporate tax system in the bin and replace it with a system fit for the 21st century.

Corporate tax avoidance costs countries hundreds of billions of Euros in lost tax income every year. Fighting this should be top priority for any government, not least when we’re in the middle of the Covid-19 crisis.

Eurodad Director Jean Saldanha reflects on the 2021 World Bank and IMF Spring Meetings.

According to the Financial Times and other news media, the US Administration has put forward specific proposals for the design of future global tax standards, which are currently being negotiated within the OECD-led “Inclusive Framework”.

Momentum is building for stronger EU measures against corporate tax avoidance - Eurodad reaction to EU ministers’ discussion about public country by country reporting today

The UN FACTI report must be a starting gun for international action to stop illicit financial flows, what is needed now is for our governments to get to work.

The OpenLux investigation shows us two things. Firstly, transparency works, and secondly, that we have a long way to go before the EU can declare itself free of tax havens.

Today, the Global Alliance for Tax Justice (GATJ), of which Tax Justice Europe is the European Branch, and the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) were nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. See below for the press release published by GATJ.

Today the OECD published its blueprints for how to repair the global corporate tax system, which follows an update that the OECD provided in January 2020. 

Today, the European Court of Justice decided to annul the European Commission’s decision that Ireland’s tax treatment of Apple constituted illegal state aid.

The OECD’s Inclusive Framework does not allow all countries to participate on an equal footing. We believe that decisions on global tax rules should be made at the United Nations.

Three years have passed since the European Commission published a legislative proposal for mandatory tax transparency for multinational companies in the EU, called Public Country by Country Reporting. This week, Ministers from EU Member States will discuss the proposal for the first time at the Competitiveness Council meeting of the EU.

Cracks in the broken tax system exposed as the European court rules that a tax deal between Luxembourg and Fiat was illegal state aid, while another between the Netherlands and Starbucks was not.

Today, the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists released another ground breaking tax exposure. The #MauritiusLeaks show how multinational corporations from all over the world have used Mauritius to avoid taxes, including on their own operations in some of the world’s poorest countries.

Under the headline Grand Theft Europe, the newsroom Correctiv, together with media outlets across Europe, have published the results of a cross-boundary investigation about large-scale international fraud with value added tax (VAT). According to the European Commission, this type of fraud is costing European governments around €50 billion each year.

Today, the European Court of Justice ruled against the European Commission, which had alleged that the Belgian tax scheme, known as the ‘excess profit scheme,’ provided illegal state aid worth around €700 million to multinational corporations.

Today, the European Commission kick-started the debate on whether to change EU decision making on tax matters, suggesting a stepwise move towards qualified majority voting, including giving an active role to the European Parliament.

Monday, 5 November marks the one-year anniversary of the publication of the Paradise Papers. In the immediate aftermath, the revelations caused political leaders to denounce tax dodging and promise improvements. However, one year after the scandal, most of the problems that led to Paradise Papers remain unaddressed.

Ministry of Finance excuses crumble, as time runs out for citizens to see where multinationals are paying taxes.

Today the European Commission ordered Ireland to retrieve €13 billion in unpaid taxes from tech giant Apple, after the country was found to have breached EU rules on ‘State Aid’.