Activities of Antoni COMÍN I OLIVERES related to 2022/2080(INI)
Plenary speeches (1)
Lessons learnt from the Pandora Papers and other revelations (debate)
Amendments (12)
Amendment 14 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Denounces the existence of a shadowy offshore financial system with offices all over the world, which is allowing illicit enrichment by facilitating tax evasion, providing means for money laundering and bringing about financial instability at the public’s expense;
Amendment 18 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Emphasises that the practices brought to light by the Pandora Papers revelations have a severe impact on the fiscal space of developing countries and severely undermine the Rule of Law and institutional resilience in these countries, which is an essential precondition to achieve sustainable development;
Amendment 20 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2 a (new)
Paragraph 2 a (new)
2a. Welcomes that the EU listing of non-cooperative tax jurisdictions for tax purposes has enabled better legislation and tax practices in some developing countries through technical cooperation and political dialogue to address identified tax issues; notes, however, that the EU list of non-cooperative tax jurisdictions excludes tax havens in Europe as well as many tax havens outside Europe, which affects the credibility of the listing process due to a lack of policy coherence; calls on the Council to coherently list all the countries that qualify as tax havens in the EU listing of non-cooperative jurisdictions for tax purposes;
Amendment 24 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2 b (new)
Paragraph 2 b (new)
2b. Points out that the EU Code of Conduct Group recommends that EU Member States impose defensive measures against blacklisted jurisdictions, including the denial of the deductible character of costs and payments when these are treated as directed to entities or persons in a blacklisted jurisdiction, the inclusion in the taxpayer company's tax base of the income of an entity resident or a permanent establishment situated in a blacklisted jurisdiction, the application of a withholding tax at a higher rate on payments when these are treated as received in blacklisted jurisdictions, and the exclusion of the deduction of profits and dividends when these are treated as received from a blacklisted jurisdiction; reminds that the recommendations of the EU Code of Conduct Group were adopted by the Council in 2019; calls on all Member States to enact appropriate legislative acts that ensure the effective application of all the defensive measures recommended by the EU Code of Conduct Group against blacklisted jurisdictions and the undertakings that take advantage of their existence to do business; recommends that Member States apply a reversal of the burden of proof and special documentation requirements in such legislative acts to reinforce the effect of the defensive measures that they apply;
Amendment 26 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2 c (new)
Paragraph 2 c (new)
2c. Stresses that, while listing and defensive measures need to be applied without hesitation where appropriate, the EU needs to engage in more systemic transparent cooperation and consultation procedures with developing countries that do not have appropriate tax practices before applying any coercive measures, especially with regard to ensuring that knowledge and capacity-building opportunities have been previously provided to the authorities of these countries;
Amendment 29 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Considers that tax avoidance by multinationals and the existence of tax havens offering no or extremely low effective tax rates are heavily detrimental to the fair collection of tax in countries in the Global South; and shift the tax burden to personal income tax and value-added tax, which is particularly problematic in LDCs where small, medium and micro- enterprises and informal traders make up the bulk of economic activity; recalls that tax evasion entails massive financial losses for developing countries and that Africa alone loses at least 88.6 billion dollars annually from illicit financial flows, which could bridge half of Africa’s Sustainable Development Goal (SDG)’s financing gap; stresses that revenue losses for public finances caused by tax evasion and illicit financial flows is one of the main factors that seriously worsen the indebtedness of many developing countries;
Amendment 34 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 a (new)
Paragraph 3 a (new)
3a. Is of the opinion that the EU should ban any financial activity of its companies or its citizens with the banks established in blacklisted tax heavens that do not cooperate with the EU;
Amendment 39 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Emphasises the structural implications of the tax avoidance practices of both multinationals and individuals for developing countries’ fiscal capacities and mid to long-term growth prospects and social development; highlights the increase in inequality, insecurity and poverty caused by the lack of fiscal space as a result of tax avoidance, which deprives governments in developing countries of the revenues they need to sustain investment in basic services and the economic infrastructure upon which broad-based economic growth depends;
Amendment 48 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Recalls that the upcoming global corporate minimum tax will define a fixed baseline for corporate taxation, thereby combating corporate tax avoidance, and calls for the resulting fiscal capacities to be used to build resilient, sustainable and equal societies; calls for international cooperation on the corporate minimum tax to be utilised in such a way as to introduce better transparency measures for the prosecution of tax avoiders and increase transparency and cooperation between governments;
Amendment 49 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 a (new)
Paragraph 5 a (new)
5a. Underlines that while some aspects of illicit financial flows are addressed through UN conventions, including the UN Convention Against Corruption and the UN Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime, there is no such convention for tax-related illicit financial flows, including tax evasion and avoidance; calls on the EU to support the proposal on a UN Convention on Tax that enables the discussion on creating a global tax body, and where all countries, including developing countries, can participate on an equal footing, thus strengthening the fight against illicit financial flows, promoting fairness towards developing countries and linking global tax governance to the SDGs; calls to promote fairness towards developing countries by replacing existing tax standards and rules that are biased in favour of richer and larger countries and fully take into account the interests, concerns and needs of developing countries;
Amendment 52 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 b (new)
Paragraph 5 b (new)
5b. Calls to increase government accountability and public participation that includes all relevant stakeholders in the international decision-making process on taxation;
Amendment 55 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Calls for full international transparency on the real owners of letterbox companies and real estate; calls to ensure a high standard of transparency, while incorporating the interests, concerns and needs of developing countries; considers that the international exchange of information needs to be expanded to identify tax evaders and calls for greater efforts to tackle financial secrecy, including automatic exchange of information agreements and supporting capacity- building for tax administrations and tax investigations in developing countries. through comprehensive technical assistance and ambitious funding;