European Parliament throws away chance for fiscal transparency

Oxfam stated, with regret, yesterday (Monday), “Today during a crucial vote, two European Parliament committees threw away an opportunity to take significant measures around fiscal transparency.” The NGO stated this in a communiqué. Johan Langerock, an Oxfam tax expert, said, "Despite several recent fiscal scandals, MEPs once again recoiled when it came to taking significant strides to improve fiscal transparency.”

The ONG considers, “By including significant loopholes within the law, MEPS are playing to the strengths of the major multinationals, the interests of which they favour over those of small businesses and citizens. It is vital that citizens are able to know where large businesses make their profits, and how much tax such businesses pay in each state in which they trade. This is because, without this information, citizens will be unable to hold businesses to account.”

Oxfam is calling upon MEPs to vote in favour of genuine transparency during the next vote in a plenary session. In the long term, multi-national companies will be able to be more transparent about profits recorded and the taxes which they pay in each EU member state. In any case, this is the stance which MEPs in the European and Monetary Affairs Committee (known as “ECON”) and the Committee for Legal Affairs  (which goes by the acronym “JURI”) of the European Parliament ratified yesterday (Monday) in joint committees. The text will now go before a plenary session of the parliament.


The Brussels Times


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