26 Amendments of Eva JOLY related to 2009/2174(INI)
Amendment 1 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 4 a (new)
Citation 4 a (new)
– having regard to the judgment of the Court of Justice of the European Communities in Case C-255/02 on 21 February 2006 (Halifax and others v. Commissioners of Customs and Excise) in which the Court held that the Sixth VAT Directive (Directive 77/388/EEC) precludes the right of a taxable person to deduct input VAT where the transactions from which that right derives constitute an abusive practice,
Amendment 2 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 4 b (new)
Citation 4 b (new)
– having regard to the judgment of the Court of Justice of the European Communities in Case C-524/04 on 13 March 2007 (Test Claimants in the Thin Cap Group Litigation v. Commissioners of Inland Revenue), in which the Court ruled that Article 43 of the EC Treaty does not preclude legislation of a Member State restricting the right of establishment of a wholly artificial corporate arrangement entered into for tax reasons alone,
Amendment 3 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 6 a (new)
Citation 6 a (new)
– having regard to Parliament’s position of 24 April 2009 on the Commission proposal for a Council directive amending Directive 2003/48/EC on taxation of savings income in the form of interest payments,
Amendment 5 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B
Recital B
B. whereas globalisation has led to increasing difficulties in combating fiscal fraud at international level; whereas the lack of cooperation between countries regarding the legal vacuum that exists between states on tax matters allows multinational companies to make use of aggressive tax-planning strategies at the expense of collective considerations; whereas those factors militate strongly in favour of improving international cooperation within the EU and at international level in order for it to be effective;,
Amendment 7 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B a (new)
Recital B a (new)
Ba. whereas tax avoidance and tax evasion at an international level constitute a serious obstacle to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals,
Amendment 8 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B b (new)
Recital B b (new)
Bb. whereas the majority of multinational companies have been structured so as to take advantage of tax avoidance in the different jurisdictions in which they operate; whereas differential tax treatment in different jurisdictions favours undertakings that are large, international or well-established over those that are small, domestic or new (start-ups),
Amendment 9 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B c (new)
Recital B c (new)
Bc. whereas the ability of multinational companies to make extensive use of tax havens and offshore centres as part of their tax avoidance strategies conflicts with the principle of fair competition and corporate responsibility,
Amendment 10 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B d (new)
Recital B d (new)
Bd. whereas tax competition erodes the fiscal sovereignty of Member States, as they get involved in a ‘race to the bottom’ of tax rates; whereas such an erosion of fiscal sovereignty jeopardises the European Social Model,
Amendment 11 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B e (new)
Recital B e (new)
Amendment 12 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C a (new)
Recital C a (new)
Ca. whereas the adoption of the General Anti-Avoidance Principles (GAAP) provides tax authorities with the power to consider whether the main purpose of a transaction is the avoidance or reduction of a tax liability and, where that is the case, to allow the authorities to levy additional tax in order to counteract such avoidance or reduction,
Amendment 14 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital E
Recital E
E. whereas the combined efforts of the G- 20 and the UN, and within the framework of OECD-led initiatives, have produced some promising results in the area of tax governance; whereas those results remain insufficient to cope with the challenges presented by tax havens and offshore centres and must be followed by decisive, effective and consistent actions;,
Amendment 18 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital G
Recital G
G. whereas tax havens sometimes host complex financial products that cause financial instability; and whereas the financial crisis has shed new light on the consequences of the lack of good tax governance, showing the risks associated with opaque jurisdictions;,
Amendment 21 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph -1 (new)
Paragraph -1 (new)
-1. Strongly condemns the role played by tax havens in encouraging and profiteering from tax avoidance, tax evasion and capital flight from developed and developing countries; urges Member States therefore to make the fight against tax havens, tax evasion and illicit capital flight from developing countries their overriding priority,
Amendment 24 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 a (new)
Paragraph 1 a (new)
1a. Recalls in this context that it is of primary importance to put an end to the use of artificial legal persons as a way to avoid taxation; stresses also that instead of bank secrecy, automatic information exchange should occur in all circumstances, including all Member States and dependent territories; welcomes in this respect the Commission’s proposal on administrative cooperation in the field of taxation because, inter alia, it extends cooperation between Member States to cover taxes of any kind, it abolishes bank secrecy, and it establishes the automatic exchange of information as a general rule;
Amendment 25 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Recalls that the Parliament has delivered its opinion to the Council on amendments to Directive 2003/48/EC, asking, inter alia, for the Council to end to the temporal derogation that allows Austria, Belgium and Luxembourg to avoid the automatic exchanginge of information by the applyingication of a withholding tax by 1 July 2014;
Amendment 28 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3 a (new)
Paragraph 3 a (new)
3a Stresses the request made by Parliament, in its position of 24 April 2009, to extend substantially the scope of Directive 2003/48/EC, in particular to cover legal entities (especially private companies and trusts) and various forms of investment income; recalls that the provisions of Directive 2003/48/EC should be extended to Singapore, Hong Kong, Macao or other jurisdictions such as Dubai, New Zealand, Ghana, or certain states of the United States, which are not bound by the Directive 2003/48/EC and which are therefore a favoured location for tax evaders; urges the Council quickly to adopt a directive amending Directive 2003/48/EC which reflects Parliament’s position;
Amendment 29 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Considers that the marketing in the Community of alternative funds domiciled in a third country must be conditional on the respect by that third country of good tax governance standards, including the effective implementation, on the basis of legally binding rules, of the principle of automatic exchange of information; in particular, highlights the fact that progress made on tax governance standards within international forums such as the OECD and the G-20 amounts to an approach of ‘minimum harmonisation’ rather than ‘maximum harmonisation’, which prevents the European Union from applying higher standards;
Amendment 33 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Asks the Commission to report quickly on the recommendation made by the Council on 14 May 2008 to include a good tax governance clause in relevant agreements to be concluded with third countries by the Community and its Member States; in particular, stresses the need for provisions on good governance to be negotiated in the context of general or specific agreements with third countries and the need to ensure an effective monitoring process related to their implementation;
Amendment 36 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. Recalls, as regards the work on harmful tax competition under the Code of Conduct for Business Taxation, the need to ensure that Member States implement the Code in their relations with third countries in way consistent with their efforts to promote transparency and exchange of information in tax matters.; takes the view that in order to be effective, the Code of Conduct for Business Taxation should be converted into a legal instrument;
Amendment 37 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8
Paragraph 8
8. Welcomes, as a first step, the advances made in the area of good tax governance as a result of the initiatives in other international fora such as the G-20, the G- 8, the UN and, notably, the OECD; considers, nevertheless, that the commitments taken by the G-20 to date are not sufficient to face the challenges posed by tax evasion, tax havens and off- shore centres;
Amendment 38 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8 a (new)
Paragraph 8 a (new)
8a. Recalls that combating tax havens and tax evasion will be successful only if the same rules apply to all so as to avoid the further creation of legal loopholes in which abuse occurs; in this context, takes the view that the Directive 2003/48/EC, which has established the principle of automatic multilateral information exchange between countries, is a welcome step towards the establishment of a global framework for automatic information exchange; welcomes, accordingly, the Commission’s proposal to promote cooperation with third countries in the framework of Directive 2003/48/EC;
Amendment 39 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8 b (new)
Paragraph 8 b (new)
8b. Insists on the need to transcend the OECD framework, in view of its various shortcomings, in order to combat tax havens effectively; in that respect, expresses its concern, inter alia, about the fact that the OECD international standards require exchange of information on request but that there is no automatic exchange of information such as in the context of Directive 2003/48/EC; also criticises the fact that the OECD allows governments to escape its blacklist merely by promising to comply with the information exchange principles, without ensuring that those principles are effectively put into practice; considers also that the requirement to conclude agreements with 12 countries in order to be removed from the blacklist is arbitrary as it does not refer to any qualitative indicators allowing an objective assessment to be made of compliance with good governance practices;
Amendment 40 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9
Paragraph 9
9. Considers that there is a need for consistency and for a genuine EU policy of good tax governance; believes that the credibility of the European Union depends, inter alia, on its willingness first to clamp down on tax havens on its own territory as an example of good governance; asks the Commission to monitor closely, in this respect, the swift and thorough implementation of the actions set out in its communication on Promoting Good Governance in Tax Matters;
Amendment 49 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13 a (new)
Paragraph 13 a (new)
13a. Stresses the need to revise the current international accounting standards to address poverty resulting from capital flight and tax evasion in developing countries; in particular, urges the development of country-by-country reporting which provides a comprehensive view of each parent company of a group for investors, stakeholders and tax authorities, thereby facilitating a more effective and transparent international overview of tax-led decisions;
Amendment 50 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14
Paragraph 14
14. Emphasises the need for Member States to coordinate their policies in order to reinforce the implementation of anti- avoidance rulesinstitute common rules across the EU on sanction and anti-avoidance mechanisms; emphasises in this respect that the adoption of the GAAP is in keeping with the Court of Justice’s judgments in Cases C-255/02 on 21 February 2006 and C-524/04 on 13 March 2007;
Amendment 54 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15
Paragraph 15
15. Recalls that the introduction of a common consolidated corporate tax base would eliminate, within the EU, double- taxation and transfer price issues within consolidated groups; stresses also that the introduction of a CCCTB must be complemented by minimum coordination of corporate tax rates as a way to combat ‘race-to-the-bottom’ competition;