Pulling the plug: how to stop corporate tax dodging in Europe and beyond
Eurodad’s member Oxfam International has published a new briefing titled Pulling the plug: how to stop corporate tax dodging in Europe and beyond.
Tax dodging has received greater political attention over the past few years in Europe. From enacted corporate transparency legislations to early reflections on a European wealth tax, the European institutions are promoting tax reforms that can potentially reduce economic inequality in Europe and beyond (if well designed and implemented). Recently, the Luxleaks and Swissleaks media scandals, combined with the need to find financial resources to restore European growth, have opened up opportunities for progressive reforms to fight tax evasion and tax avoidance - which costs the European Union around €1 trillion a year. The European and global political context has never been so favourable, with new European institutions having to deliver on fighting tax havens, harmonising corporate taxation, improving tax transparency and ensuring greater tax cooperation. This document explores some of the solutions to fight corporate tax avoidance that the European Union should present in 2015, and why it is so timely to adopt them as soon as possible.
1. Support the creation of a UN inter-governmental body on tax cooperation, by calling for a Ministerial roundtable on tax during the Financing for Development Conference in Addis Ababa in July 2015.
2. Increase corporate tax transparency by adopting public country by country reporting rules for large companies in all sectors, to build on what has been decided for the European banking sector.
3. Increase corporate tax harmonisation in Europe by ensuring a compulsory common consolidated corporate tax base in all 28 countries, which makes certain that taxes are paid where profits and real economic value is created.
4. Analyse the negative impacts one member state’s tax system can have on other European and developing countries, and provide public recommendations for change.