Activities of Marek BELKA related to 2022/2080(INI)
Plenary speeches (1)
Lessons learnt from the Pandora Papers and other revelations (debate)
Amendments (34)
Amendment 13 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B a (new)
Recital B a (new)
B a. whereas the leaks Panama Papers and Swiss Leaks suggest that the top 0.01 % of the wealth distribution owns about 50 % of the wealth placed in tax havens while the top 0.01 % evades about 25 % of its tax liability by concealing assets and investment income abroad, making tax evasion also a question about inequality1a; _________________ 1a Alstadsæter, A., Johannesen, N., & Zucman, G. (2019). Tax evasion and inequality. American Economic Review, 109(6), 2073-2103.
Amendment 16 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B b (new)
Recital B b (new)
B b. whereas the practices described in the Pandora Papers further entrench social and economic inequalities in our societies, and strongly erode citizens’ trust in the rule of law and in our economic and democratic system; whereas fostering social and economic justice is ever more important in the crisis that the EU currently faces, following the war of aggression against Ukraine and the cost of living crisis that ensued;
Amendment 19 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B c (new)
Recital B c (new)
B c. whereas tax crimes are a predicate offence for money laundering under EU law and international standards; whereas the activities reported in the Pandora Papers are not all inherently illegal, but certainly amount to tax avoidance and abuse of corporate secrecy;
Amendment 31 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 b (new)
Paragraph 1 b (new)
1 b. Notes that Switzerland revised its Federal Act on Banks and Savings Banks on banking secrecy in the framework of adopting the Common Reporting Standard (CRS) for exchanging information on financial accounts; however regrets that such banking secrecy remains for information not falling under the CRS; worries that banking secrecy rules in Switzerland still apply to jurisdictions that are not part of the CRS and to Swiss nationals, including Swiss journalists, and this explains why Swiss journalists were not initially allowed to report about the Pandora Papers or to be part of the investigative consortium; welcomes any future reform of Article 47 of Switzerland’s Federal Act on Banks and Savings Bank to safeguard proper freedom of the press;
Amendment 33 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 c (new)
Paragraph 1 c (new)
1 c. Notes that a general lesson learnt from several money laundering and tax leaks in recent years is that whistleblowers play a significant role in allowing these leaks to be known by the public; regrets the extended use of non- disclosure agreements (NDAs) for employees in the corporate sector without accurate legal advice;
Amendment 48 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3 a (new)
Paragraph 3 a (new)
3 a. Deplores that a number of EU high-level decision-makers have been featured in the Pandora Papers; regrets that, according to the unanimity vote required to fight tax evasion and avoidance at the EU level, said individuals or the governments they integrated held the power to veto any EU legislation on those matters;
Amendment 49 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3 a (new)
Paragraph 3 a (new)
3 a. Calls on the Commission to make full use of the revised methodology for identifying high-risk third countries under Directive (EU) 2015/849 and, after its own thorough assessment, not to hesitate to place on the list of high-risk third countries jurisdictions not being named on the FATF lists;
Amendment 51 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3 b (new)
Paragraph 3 b (new)
3 b. Calls on the Council to move towards the use of qualified majority voting in certain tax matters concerning tax evasion and avoidance, and for the implementation of international tax agreements; stresses that the lack of further tax coordination pressures Member States to engage in a detrimental race to the bottom, while also hampering cross-border economic activity;
Amendment 52 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3 c (new)
Paragraph 3 c (new)
3 c. Welcomes the proposed Anti- Money Laundering legislative package; stresses the importance of increasing the coordination between national legal frameworks to address loopholes, and the improvement to supervision provided by establishing a European Anti-Money Laundering Authority (AMLA) with adequate resources and competences;
Amendment 61 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Points out that global professional services firms s possess a capacity as ‘career hubs’, where 68 % of transfer pricing professionals in multinational corporations had worked in a global professional services firmGPSF before11 ; is aware of examples of tax authority officials going on to work in such firms or multinational corporationGPSFs or MNCs immediately after; calls on the Member States to regulate the phenomenon ofensure revolving doors regulation, including cooling- off periods, with regard to officials in tax administrations; to officials of tax administrations, and also to uphold these standards on international organisations they are members of, such as the OECD, so as to avoid conflicts of interest and revolving doors; calls on the OECD, in particular, to uphold its own 2010 Recommendation Principles for Transparency and Integrity in Lobbying; _________________ 11 Christensen, R.C., ‘Transnational Infrastructural Power of Professional Service Firms’, SocArXiv, 9 September 2022.
Amendment 87 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10 a (new)
Paragraph 10 a (new)
Amendment 91 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11
Paragraph 11
11. Observes, in parallel, a growing trend for countries, and EU Member States in particular, to adopt legal frameworks designed to attract high- net- worth individuals, foreign pensioners and highly skilled workers to invest or live in their territory, notably granting them generous tax benefits and exemptions which do not apply to nationals, in addition to offering golden visas and selling citizenship opportunities; golden visa/sale of citizenship regimes; notes that governments generally use two instruments to compete for taxpayers and mobile tax bases in the area of personal income and wealth taxation: (top) tax rates and preferential tax arrangements targeted to income and wealth-rich foreigners14a; deplores that granting tax advantages to more mobile source of income increases inequality as the non mobile income earners end up paying more taxes than mobile income earners, in proportion; _________________ 14a Harmful Practices and Competition in the Area of Personal Income and Wealth Taxation, https://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/ etudes/IDAN/2022/703343/IPOL_IDA(20 22)703343_EN.pdf
Amendment 98 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11 a (new)
Paragraph 11 a (new)
Amendment 109 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13 a (new)
Paragraph 13 a (new)
13 a. Calls on the Commission to include in its future proposal on DAC 8 – among other previous recommendations related to DAC3 and outlined in Parliament’s resolution on the implementation of the EU requirements for exchange of tax information – the exchange of tax rulings concerning natural persons, which are often drafted by intermediaries, in order to ensure that the arrangements of high-net-worth individuals with a Member State’s tax authorities are shared with all Member States;
Amendment 122 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14 a (new)
Paragraph 14 a (new)
14 a. Deplores that the disparity of capital gains taxation across the EU might generate wealth shifting and tax avoidance behaviour across Member States; Calls on the Commission to assess the feasibility, economic impact of a minimum tax on capital gains at European level;
Amendment 124 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14 b (new)
Paragraph 14 b (new)
14 b. Notes that some jurisdictions, such as the United Kingdom, have in place unexplained wealth control mechanisms aiming to detect the proceeds of criminal activities; stresses that this mechanism consists of a court order requiring a person who is reasonably suspected of being involved in serious crime, or of being connected to a person involved in it, to explain the nature and extent of their interest in particular property, and to explain how that property was obtained, where there are reasonable grounds to suspect that the respondent’s known lawfully obtained income would be insufficient to enable the respondent to obtain the property; invites the Commission to assess the effects and feasibility of such a measure at Union level to enable law enforcement to better investigate the origin of ill-gotten assets and recover the proceeds of crime;
Amendment 128 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15
Paragraph 15
15. Welcomes the adoption of the first final rule on beneficial ownership reporting under the USnited States (US) Corporate Transparency Act; regrets the lack of political will in the US to share information regarding the financial accounts of non-US citizens; reiterates its call on the US to join the OECD Common Reporting Standard as soon as possibleRS as soon as possible, thereby fully exchanging information with other countries on a reciprocate basis;
Amendment 129 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15 a (new)
Paragraph 15 a (new)
15 a. Notes that despites the implementation of European and national legislation on exchange of information and transparency, the quality of data exchanged as well as the quality of data in different public registers remains low, poor, incomplete or not sufficiently updated; urges Member States to dedicate the appropriate resources, including sufficient staff and technology, to process and make full use of the data; calls on the Commission to issue guidance or provide support to Member State and reporting entities to guarantee the quality of data sent; requests that the Commission provides an overall assessment of the quality of data provided in the context of exchange of information between Member States as well as the quality of data in compulsory public registers;
Amendment 132 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15 b (new)
Paragraph 15 b (new)
15 b. Recalls the importance of transparency of beneficial ownership information (BOI) across the world the EU’s leading role in this domain; regrets, however, the delay in the setting-up of the Beneficial Ownership Registers Interconnection System (BORIS) in the EU due to technical difficulties; highlights that access to adequate, accurate and up-to-date BOI and control of legal persons is a valuable tool in the fight against tax evasion and avoidance;
Amendment 133 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15 c (new)
Paragraph 15 c (new)
15 c. Stresses that the 5th AMLD requires Member States to set up registers of the beneficial owners of all legal entities established in the EU, including trusts, and grants public access to basic beneficial ownership information about companies; regrets the delays of implementation of these requirements in many Member States;
Amendment 134 #
15 d. Notes with concern that Member States have adopted BO registers in very divergent ways, with different access conditions, different search functions and different mechanisms for data verification, if any; stresses that, as a result, there has been a delay delay in the setting-up of the Beneficial Ownership Registers Interconnection System (BORIS) due to technical difficulties;
Amendment 135 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15 e (new)
Paragraph 15 e (new)
15 e. Reminds the Commission and the Member States that it is absolutely essential that beneficial ownership information is accessible for financial intelligence units (FIUs), law enforcement, obliged entities and the general public; deplores the fact that delays in Member States and the overall lack of coordination in the implementation process are undermining the effectiveness of an functioning interconnection system, and calls on all actors to address this delay as a matter of urgency;
Amendment 136 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15 f (new)
Paragraph 15 f (new)
15 f. Welcomes the revision of the Recommendation 24 by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), which requires countries to prevent the misuse of legal persons for money laundering or terrorist financing; highlights that henceforth countries will have to require beneficial ownership information to be held by a public authority or body functioning as beneficial ownership registry or an alternative mechanism as efficient;
Amendment 137 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15 g (new)
Paragraph 15 g (new)
15 g. Stresses that progress in tackling the use of anonymous companies can only be possible if information about beneficial owners is easily and available in a timely manner in all jurisdictions, and if authorities are able to make use of that information and cross-check data for investigative purposes;
Amendment 138 #
15 h. Welcomes further that the FATF is conducting a review of Recommendation 25 on the transparency and BOI of legal arrangements; considers, in this regard, that, similarly to what already is prescribed in EU law, the standard should determine that trusts or other similar legal arrangements be registered, that multi-pronged approach to trust ownership transparency should be required, including a trust register as a required component and that access to BO information on trusts be at least as comprehensive as it is currently determined by EU law;
Amendment 139 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15 i (new)
Paragraph 15 i (new)
15 i. Recalls that the United Arab Emirates feature on the grey list of the Financial Action Task Force, a global money laundering watchdog, since March 2002, since the FATF has concluded that the UAE have strategic deficiencies in their regime to counter money laundering, terrorist financing, and proliferation financing; stresses that under the Commission’s methodology, where a third country is listed by the FATF, it should automatically be added to the EU list of high risk third countries without further autonomous assessment, through a Delegated Act; regrets that, in this case, the Commission has yet to propose to add the UAE to the EU list; calls for the United Arab Emirates to be identified as a high-risk third country without further delay;
Amendment 140 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15 j (new)
Paragraph 15 j (new)
15 j. Reiterates its conclusions regarding the fact that, as exposed by the Pandora Papers, some U.S. states, such as South Dakota, Alaska, Wyoming, Delaware and Nevada, have become hubs of financial and corporate secrecy; regrets the lack of visible progress or political will in these states to enact necessary reforms since the revelations;
Amendment 141 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15 k (new)
Paragraph 15 k (new)
15 k. Regrets that the US Congress has so far failed to pass the bill the Establishing New Authorities for Businesses Laundering and Enabling Risks to Security Act (ENABLERS), which would require the non-financial/ intermediary sector to carry out due diligence obligations on their customers, as recommended by FATF standards;
Amendment 146 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16
Paragraph 16
16. Welcomes the Commission proposal for a Council directive laying down rules to prevent the misuse of shell entities for tax purposes and amending Directive 2011/16/EU14 ; calls on the Council to swiftly adopt the proposal once Parliament has submitted its opinion; adopt the proposal swiftly after the Parliament emits its opinion; insists that such proposal can only deliver if it is accompanied by counter measures such as the denial of tax residence certificates; calls on the Commission and Member States to further promote global regulation on mandatory substance requirements for companies as a tool to prevent tax avoidance; _________________ 14 COM(2021)0565.
Amendment 151 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16 a (new)
Paragraph 16 a (new)
16 a. Calls for the creation of an EU Asset Register to provide public authorities with centralised access to information on the ownership of high value assets and goods throughout the EU and thereby effectively curb efforts to circumvent financial targeted sanctions, and fight money laundering and tax evasion and avoidance;
Amendment 153 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16 b (new)
Paragraph 16 b (new)
Amendment 155 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16 c (new)
Paragraph 16 c (new)
16 c. Reiterates, in this regard, the conclusions and recommendations of its resolutions of 21 January 2021 on reforming the EU list of tax havens and of 7 October 2021 on reforming the EU policy on harmful tax practices (including the reform of the Code of Conduct Group) and calls on the Council to relaunch discussions on comprehensive reform;
Amendment 156 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16 d (new)
Paragraph 16 d (new)
16 d. Calls on the Council in particular to include the automatic listing of third jurisdictions with a 0 % corporate tax rate or with no taxes on companies’ profits as a standalone criterion; notes with concern that third countries may repeal non- compliant tax regimes but substitute them with new ones that are potentially harmful to the EU;
Amendment 157 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17
Paragraph 17