11 Amendments of Heide RÜHLE related to 2008/2033(INI)
Amendment 2 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 9 a (new)
Citation 9 a (new)
– having regard to the recommendations of the Council of 14 May 2008 on tax issues related to agreements to be concluded by the Community and its Member States with third countries,
Amendment 6 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B a (new)
Recital B a (new)
Ba. whereas VAT evasion and fraud have an impact on the financing of the budget of the European Union, as they result in an increased need to call on Member States’ own resources based on gross national income,
Amendment 7 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C a (new)
Recital C a (new)
Ca. whereas globalisation has led to increasing difficulties in combating fiscal fraud at an international level, given the increased involvement of companies established in third countries in carousel fraud, the expansion of electronic commerce and the globalisation of services markets; whereas those factors militate strongly in favour of improving international cooperation, in particular as regards on VAT,
Amendment 8 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C b (new)
Recital C b (new)
Cb. whereas the extent of tax fraud in the European Union is due to the current transitional system of VAT, which is too complex, making intra-Community transactions difficult to track, more opaque and thus more open to abuse,
Amendment 13 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 a (new) (before the subheading ‘General issues: extent of fiscal fraud and its consequences’)
Paragraph 1 a (new) (before the subheading ‘General issues: extent of fiscal fraud and its consequences’)
1a. Recalls that the establishment of a VAT system based on the ‘origin principle’, which implies that transactions between Member States liable to VAT would bear the tax charged in the country of origin instead of being zero-rated, remains a long-term solution by which to combat tax fraud effectively; notes that the ‘origin principle’ would, avoid exempting goods traded in the internal market from VAT and subsequently taxing them in the country of destination; recalls that in order to be operational, a VAT system based on the ‘origin principle’ requires tax approximation between countries to avoid tax competition, as well as the establishment of a clearing system, as originally proposed by the Commission in 1987;
Amendment 27 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19 a (new)
Paragraph 19 a (new)
19a. Insists that in order to protect fiscal revenue of all the Member States in an within the confines of the internal market, Member States should take comparable measures against fraudsters, in particular in terms of sanctions and criminal proceedings, regardless of where losses of revenue take place; calls on the Commission to propose possible mechanisms to promote such cooperation between Member States;
Amendment 29 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20 a (new)
Paragraph 20 a (new)
20a. Recalls that tax havens represent a barrier to the implementation of the Lisbon Strategy, as they put downward pressure on tax rates and, in general, on tax revenues, thereby exacerbating the effects of tax competition, which erodes the fiscal sovereignty of Member States;
Amendment 30 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20 b (new)
Paragraph 20 b (new)
20b. Stresses also that in times of budgetary discipline any erosion of the fiscal base provoked by tax havens or unrestrained tax competition will jeopardise Member States’ ability to comply with the reformed Stability and Growth Pact, and that a decrease in public revenue jeopardises the European Social Model;
Amendment 31 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20 c (new)
Paragraph 20 c (new)
20c. Stresses that removing tax havens requires, inter alia, a three-pronged strategy: tackling tax avoidance, widening the scope of the Savings Tax Directive and requesting that the OECD, through its members, sanctions non-cooperative tax havens;
Amendment 33 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 21
Paragraph 21
21. Welcomes the Commission’s announcement relating to the reform of the Savings Tax Directive and urges the Council Presidency and Member States to give priority to that reform; stresses the need to enlarge the scope of the Savings Tax Directive, so as to cover all forms of financial assets, as well as to extend its geographical scope, considering that an increasing number of European taxpayers have moved their money to Asia (in particular, to Hong Kong, Singapore and Macao), because of their tight bank secrecy which facilitates tax evasion;
Amendment 38 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 22
Paragraph 22
22. IUrges the European Union to make the elimination of tax havens at a worldwide level a priority, considering their detrimental effects on the tax revenue of individual Member States; invites the Council and the Commission to leverage EU trade power when negotiating trade and cooperation agreements with the governments of tax havens, in order to persuade them to eliminate tax provisions and practices that favour tax evasion and fraud; welcomes, as a first step, the recommendations of the Council of 14 May 2008 to include in trade agreements a clause on good governance in tax matters; and asks the Commission immediately to put forward such a clause in the negotiations of trade agreements in the future;