The European Union (EU) condemned on Monday the “shocking” revelations on the way top companies and dignitaries, including Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II, avoid taxes using offshore wealth hubs.
EU finance ministers meeting for regular talks in Brussels are expected to discuss tax avoidance on Tuesday after a trove of leaked documents exposed the great lengths to which the global elite will go to avert paying a fair tax.
The findings have emerged as part of the Paradise Papers released late Sunday by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), which was also behind the similar Panama Papers made public in 2016. ICJ is based in the United States (US).
“This new scandal shows once again that some companies and rich individuals are ready to do anything to not pay tax,” said European Economics Affairs Commissioner Pierre Moscovici.
“In light of these shocking revelations, I call on member states to rapidly adopt a European tax haven blacklist, as well as other dissuasive measures,” he said.
Much as with the Panama Papers report and LuxLeaks, the latest documents also expose the secret ways the rich and multinationals, with the help of accountancy firms, shift profits across the globe to drastically cut tax.
The LuxLeaks scandal revealed in 2014 that Luxembourg gave companies huge tax breaks while European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker was prime minister.
Perfectly legal, these methods helped divert billions in profit from the tax man, using well established wealth hubs such as Luxembourg, the British Virgin Islands, and Switzerland.
EU competition Chief Margrethe Vestager, who has cracked down on EU countries making illegal tax breaks to Apple and Amazon, lauded the journalists who made the latest revelations.
In its exposé, the ICIJ showed that Apple used Bermuda-based law firm Appleby to transfer the company’s headquarters from Dublin to Jersey once Ireland changed policy.
“Congratulations and thanks to ICIJ for all the work done on Paradise Papers. It enables the work against tax avoidance, for transparency,” said Vestager in a tweet.
Despite the tough talk from Brussels, Europeans have struggled to agree on the basis of an EU-wide tax haven blacklist.
Britain, Malta, as well as other smaller EU nations are reluctant to include zero or near-zero corporate tax rates as one of the criteria to land on the EU’s blacklist.
The EU ministers are due to bridge their differences and draw up an official list of unwanted tax havens in December, whittling down an initial list of 92 countries finalized in 2016.
Sources said EU officials have warned about 60 countries that their tax policies may be problematic, demanding further information before a November 18 deadline. /kga