Debate on the Commission decision adopted on the Corporate Tax Package during the EP plenary session (01-04/02) in Strasbourg. Statements by Pierre MOSCOVICI, Member of the EC in charge of Economic and Financial Affairs, Taxation and Customs, Alain LAMASSOURE (EPP, FR), Elisa FERREIRA (S&D, PT), Sander LOONES (ECR, BE), Michael THEURER (ALDE, DE) and Eva JOLY (Greens/EFA, FR).

Strasbourg

debate

plenary session

fight against tax fraud and evasion (T)

LOONES, Sander (ECR, BE)

MOSCOVICI, Pierre (PSE, FR, EC)

LAMASSOURE, Alain (EPP, FR)

JOLY, Eva (Greens/EFA, FR)

THEURER, Michael (ALDE, DE)

FERREIRA, Elisa (S&D, PT, EC)

Commission decision adopted on the Corporate Tax Package: extracts from the debate

SOUNDBITE (French), Pierre MOSCOVICI, Member of the EC in charge of Economic and Financial Affairs, Taxation and Customs, There are four pillars that this new package will be resting on: first of all we are going to have a genuine position to draw tax from companies. Companies quite simply will have to pay their taxes where profit is generated. Then we have to have a seal, a stamp of approval, then we need to have a fair approach and lastly we will have to look at the articulation between the internal aspect and the external aspects that we have to take into consideration as well.

SOUNDBITE (French), Pierre MOSCOVICI, Member of the EC in charge of Economic and Financial Affairs, Taxation and Customs, There is a direct link between the tax that is required and where the activities are carried out. So we 'll have a directive and a recommendation there. We'll have a draft of a recommendation that is called anti-tax avoidance. I am not going to go into all the stipulations, but it will include amongst other things, provisions to stop from transferring to subsidiaries with lower tax levels. Secondly, there will be a way to try to stop tax deduction being carried out through hybrid models. And finally, we want to counteract certain practices of companies who are transferring assets from one country to another to pay tax on those assets.

SOUNDBITE (French), Pierre MOSCOVICI, The draft directive will implement the OECD recommendations on terms of country by country reporting, you know what's at stake, its to stop irregular transfers, it's to stop what's been going on in the past and what we are saying is adopting the OECD standards.

SOUNDBITE (French), Pierre MOSCOVICI, Member of the EC in charge of Economic and Financial Affairs, Taxation and Customs, The new strategy will involve drawing up a European list, and I insist on the two words European list, of non-cooperative third countries.

SOUNDBITE (French), Alain LAMASSOURE (EPP, FR), Our countries have competed against one another for years to see who can be most generous to these multinationals, and now we are going to see apparent competition to be the country who make these multinationals pay the most. So this means that the second strand of your proposal Commissioner, is going to be even more important. That's the harmonisation of tax base for companies in the EU.

SOUNDBITE (Portuguese), Elisa FERREIRA (S&amp;D, PT), There are still issues, such as defining what constitutes a tax haven, where we would like the proposals to be stepped up. Unfortunately its not possible at the present time to actually call for that. I would like to underline that this European Parliament is expecting the European Council to take on this change in philosophy as adopted by the European Commission, and we said that very clearly in our report. We also need to step up the issue of country by country reporting, making these reports public.

SOUNDBITE (Dutch), Sander LOONES (ECR, BE), The communication from the Commission is not good at all. We always talk about more taxes, we never talk about less or lower taxes, more efficient companies. Companies ar no milk cows, they provide jobs and welfare and of course we have to make sure everybody pays their fair share, multinationals shouldn't be able to avoid that but we do that by exchanging information, by working together, between the tax authorities, through more transparency, but also by remaining vigilant.

SOUNDBITE (German), Michael THEURER (ALDE, DE), SMEs which cannot use aggressive tax planning in the same way pay some 20-25% tax rates above multinational companies. So that means it's absolutely essential for us to create a legislative framework which represents a level playing field for businesses. We have seen in Switzerland how this kind of competition can be organised; automatic exchange of information is one method, but also having a common consolidated tax base is another.

SOUNDBITE (French), Eva JOLY (Greens/EFA, FR), We need to emphasize public country by country reporting. The battle against tax injustice won't be won just in the Council or in the corridors of finance ministries. It certainly won't be won when ministers are the main lobbyist for the largest groups.