2022/2080(INI) | [ParlTrack]

Draft opinion
Paragraph 1

1. Denounces the existence of ~~a shadowy~~ offshore financial s~~ystem with offices all over the world, which is allowing enrichment at the public’s expense;~~ tructures in numerous jurisdictions around the world, which have the purpose of facilitating tax avoidance and which could be used for illegal practices such as tax evasion and money laundering;

Amendment 12 #

Michèle RIVASI, Caroline ROOSE, Pierrette HERZBERGER-FOFANA

Draft opinion
Paragraph 1

1. Denounces the existence of a shadowy offshore financial system with offices all over the world, which is allowing enrichment at the public’s expense; regrets that, despite a decade of tax scandals and legislative reforms in the EU, the Pandora Papers reveal that there has been insufficient progress at global level to rein in corporate secrecy and offshore tax evasion and avoidance; recalls that corporate ownership secrecy is used to hide personal financial interests;

Amendment 13 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 1

1. Denounces the existence of a shadowy offshore financial system with offices all over the world, which is allowing enrichment at the public’s expense; stresses that the lack of transparency, including international information sharing, is a key underlying cause of tax-related illicit financial flows;

Amendment 14 #

Draft opinion
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 15 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 1

1. Denounces the existence of a shadowy offshore financial system with offices all over the world, which is allowing enrichment of already most powerful and richest at the public’s expense;

Amendment 16 #

Michèle RIVASI, Caroline ROOSE, Pierrette HERZBERGER-FOFANA

2. Emphasises that the practices brought to light by the Pandora Papers ~~revelations have a severe impact on the fiscal space of developing countries~~undermine confidence in the benefits of the global financial system for raising living standards around the world, particularly in developing countries; highlights the need to work in global international fora to restore this confidence;

Amendment 17 #

Draft opinion
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; recalls that tax avoidance by wealthy individuals and corporations shifts the tax burden from larger businesses to smaller and medium-sized businesses that do not have the resources to access similar sophisticated tax planning arrangements. It also shifts the tax burden onto consumption through personal income tax and value-added tax, which is particularly problematic in LDCs where small, medium and micro-enterprises (SMMEs) and informal traders make up the bulk of economic activity and are more vulnerable to significantly reduced income and insecurity;

Amendment 18 #

Draft opinion
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 19 #

Michèle RIVASI, Caroline ROOSE, Pierrette HERZBERGER-FOFANA

Draft opinion
Paragraph 2

2. Emphasises that the practices brought to light by the Pandora Papers revelations have an especially severe impact on the fiscal space and public expenditure of developing countries;

Amendment 2 #

Draft opinion
Recital B (new)

B. whereas global tax competition has resulted in a shift of the tax burden to workers and low-income households; has impinged upon the possibility of developing countries to enhance domestic resource mobilisation and has forced damaging cutbacks in public services in poor countries;

Amendment 20 #

Udo BULLMANN, Maria NOICHL, Mónica Silvana GONZÁLEZ

Draft opinion
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 21 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 2 a (new)

2a. Recalls the broad consensus in connection with the adoption of the UN’s Agenda 2030 with the Sustainable Development Goals on the need to fundamentally increase investments to boost sustainable growth and “go from billions to trillions” in financing for development through the mobilisation of private capital;

Amendment 22 #

Michèle RIVASI, Caroline ROOSE, Pierrette HERZBERGER-FOFANA

Draft opinion
Paragraph 2 a (new)

2a. Condemns the decision of the Council from 5 October 2021 to remove Anguilla, Dominica, and the Seychelles from the EU list of non-cooperative jurisdictions for tax purposes, which impacts the EU’s fight for a globally transparent tax system and therefore urges the Council to reconsider its decision;

Amendment 23 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 2 a (new)

2a. Highlights the international commitment to significantly reduce illicit financial flows by 2030, as contained in the Addis Ababa Action Agenda and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development;

Amendment 24 #

Udo BULLMANN, Maria NOICHL, Mónica Silvana GONZÁLEZ

Draft opinion
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 25 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 2 b (new)

2b. Notes that the use of existing official development funds for subsidisation of private investment can be associated with trade-offs in regards to its effectiveness to implement the SDGs and that private investment in developing countries shows no sign of growing as necessary;

Amendment 26 #

Draft opinion
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 27 #

Draft opinion
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~~practices, though legal, can impact severely upon the fiscal capacity of countries in the Global South including the ability to invest in robust tax-collection structures;

Amendment 28 #

Draft opinion
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~~which is detrimental to the rest of society; highlights that the ability to hide money has a direct impact on people’s life: it affects access to education, to health, to a home, among others, and especially in developing countries;

Amendment 29 #

Michèle RIVASI, Caroline ROOSE, Pierrette HERZBERGER-FOFANA

Draft opinion
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 3 #

Draft opinion
Recital C (new)

C. whereas Corporate Income Tax represents a higher share of tax revenues and GDP in developing countries than in rich countries; whereas in developing countries, losses due to global corporate taxation are estimated to range from 6 to 13 per cent of total tax revenue, versus 2 to 3 per cent in OECD countries[1]; [1] UNCTAD report (p.12) https://unctad.org/system/files/official- document/aldcafrica2020_en.pdf

Amendment 30 #

Michèle RIVASI, Caroline ROOSE, Pierrette HERZBERGER-FOFANA

Draft opinion
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; stresses that tax evasion causes developing countries to lose more money each year than the total amount of aid they receive and represents another way of extracting resources from the Global South to the richest countries, deepening the gap between the two and the processes of global south impoverishment;

Amendment 31 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 3

3. CReminds that globalisation has affected the ability of countries to generate domestic government revenues and to choose their taxation structure; 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; stresses that multinational corporations should pay taxes in the countries where economic activity occurs and value is created;

Amendment 32 #

Michèle RIVASI, Caroline ROOSE, Pierrette HERZBERGER-FOFANA

Draft opinion
Paragraph 3

3. Considers that tax avoidance by multinationals, as well as by some of the world’s richest and most powerful people, including current and former presidents, prime ministers and heads of state, 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;

Amendment 33 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 a (new)

3a. Stresses that the digitalization of the economy has exacerbated existing problems relating to corporate tax avoidance and evasion, and the importance of ensuring fair and effective taxation of digital services;

Amendment 34 #

Draft opinion
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 35 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 a (new)

3a. Points out that names in the Pandora Papers include political leaders in developing countries that heavily depend on aid from the European Union;

Amendment 36 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 b (new)

3b. Recalls the reputational risk for countries which facilitate taxation structures that are not deemed to be sufficiently transparent; Recalls also the security risks that may arise from the misuse of financial structures that are not deemed to be sufficiently transparent;

Amendment 37 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 c (new)

3c. Stresses the need for effective sanctions mechanisms as regards the EU list of non-cooperative jurisdictions for tax purposes;

Amendment 38 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 4

4. ~~Emphasises the structural implications of the tax avoidance practices of both multinationals and individuals for developing countries’ fiscal capaciti~~Highlights the ongoing need for global cooperation to investigate suspected cases of tax evasion and anti- money laundering; Notes the several existing international initiatives on the Automatic Exchange of Information for tax compliance purposes, a~~nd mid to long-term growth prospects; highlights the increase in inequality and poverty caused by~~s well as the OECD Common Reporting Standard for automatic reporting of information on the offshore financial accounts of non- residents to their jurisdiction of residence and the ~~lac~~work of ~~fiscal space as a result of tax avoidanc~~the OECD’s Joint International Taskforce on Shared Intelligence and Collaboration (JITSIC) Network in which 19 EU Member States currently participate;

Amendment 39 #

Michèle RIVASI, Caroline ROOSE, Pierrette HERZBERGER-FOFANA

Draft opinion
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 4 #

Draft opinion
Recital D (new)

D. whereas automatic exchange of information is an effective tool to tackle tax evasion and other IFFs;

Amendment 40 #

Michèle RIVASI, Caroline ROOSE, Pierrette HERZBERGER-FOFANA

Draft opinion
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; highlights the increase in inequality and poverty caused by the lack of fiscal space as a result of tax avoidance; recalls that the fight against cross-border tax evasion is crucial as a means to expand the tax base; increase tax revenue and to protect the integrity and fairness of tax systems;

Amendment 41 #

Udo BULLMANN, Maria NOICHL, Mónica Silvana GONZÁLEZ

Draft opinion
Paragraph 4

Amendment 42 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 a (new)

4a. Reminds that the European Parliament has repeatedly stressed the need for a review of the EU listing process of non-cooperative jurisdictions for tax purposes to improve its transparency, the criteria used, and the effectiveness of associated defence measures;

Amendment 43 #

Udo BULLMANN, Maria NOICHL, Mónica Silvana GONZÁLEZ

Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 b (new)

4b. Reiterates its call to reform the Code of Conduct for business taxation to combat harmful tax practices, which has become seriously outdated in the context of growing digitisation and globalisation, and asks to replace it with a framework on aggressive tax arrangements and low- rates, which would include sharper criteria for defining what constitutes a tax heaven, as well as inclusion of highly mobile wealthy individuals under the scope of the instrument;

Amendment 44 #

Ádám KÓSA

Draft opinion
Paragraph 5

5. Re~~calls that~~jects 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; calls for international cooperation to introduce better transparency measures for the prosecution of tax avoiders;

Amendment 45 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 5

5. ~~Recalls that the upcoming global corporate minimum tax will define a fixed baseline for corporate taxa~~Notes the agreement on the OECD Two Pillar Solution, 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 ofo address the tax challenges arising from the digitalisation of the economy including in relation to the global corporate taxation framework which has the aim of benefiting society by increasing transparency and reducing opportunities for tax avoid~~ers~~ance;

Amendment 46 #

Michèle RIVASI, Caroline ROOSE, Pierrette HERZBERGER-FOFANA

Draft opinion
Paragraph 5

5. ~~Recalls that the upcoming~~Welcomes and encourages the further effort to building on the global corporate minimum tax that 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 more 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; calls on the EU MSs to live up to the ambition and give their political backing to this global project;

Amendment 47 #

Draft opinion
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; recalls that the distribution of taxing rights between countries must be fair, equitable and in line with the goal of reducing inequalities among countries;

Amendment 48 #

Draft opinion
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 #

Michèle RIVASI, Caroline ROOSE, Pierrette HERZBERGER-FOFANA

Draft opinion
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 5 #

Draft opinion
Recital E (new)

E. whereas in October 2021, the OECD/G20 Inclusive Framework on Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (IF) agreed a two-pillar solution to address the tax challenges arising from the digitalisation of the economy; but whereas some developing countries expressed concerns, or even refused to endorse this global corporate tax deal (as in the case Kenya and Nigeria);

Amendment 50 #

Michèle RIVASI, Caroline ROOSE, Pierrette HERZBERGER-FOFANA

Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 a (new)

5a. Stresses that tax transparency and exchange of information are essential to stem illicit financial flows and increase domestic resource mobilisation, which is of particular importance to fulfil Sustainable Development Goals, including the African Union Agenda 2063, especially in the current context, marked by rising debt, the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and the consequences of the war in Ukraine on African economies;

Amendment 51 #

Udo BULLMANN, Maria NOICHL, Mónica Silvana GONZÁLEZ

Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 a (new)

5a. Emphasises that a step-change in the taxation of private and corporate profits as well as private wealth is essential to increase fiscal spaces to fund sustainable investments and gather the much needed development funding, which is now more urgently needed than ever before due to the relentless worsening of the impacts of climate change and the continuing impacts of the COVID pandemic, especially in the Global South;

Amendment 52 #

Draft opinion
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 53 #

Michèle RIVASI, Caroline ROOSE, Pierrette HERZBERGER-FOFANA

Draft opinion
Paragraph 6

6. Calls for ~~full international transparency on the real owners of letterbox companies and real estate; considers that the international exchange of information needs to be expanded to identify tax evaders and c~~greater and more efficient international exchange of information between fiscal authorities to tackle financial crime; Calls for greater efforts to ~~tackle financial sec~~promote transparency, in~~cluding~~ respect of letterbox companies and support~~ing~~ for capacity-building for tax administrations and tax investigations in developing countries.

Amendment 54 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 6

6. CRecalls that transparency of ownership and control of companies, trusts and other legal entities is critical to combat illicit financial flows; in this regards calls on Member States to ensure a full implementation of Directive (EU) 2018/843 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 May 2018 amending Directive (EU)2015/849 on the prevention of the use of the financial system for the purposes of money laundering or terrorist financing; calls for full international transparency on the real owners of letterbox companies and real estate; 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 supporting capacity-building for tax administrations and tax investigations in developing countries.

Amendment 55 #

Michèle RIVASI, Caroline ROOSE, Pierrette HERZBERGER-FOFANA

Draft opinion
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;

Amendment 56 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 a (new)

6a. Recalls the two-pillar solution of October 2021, agreed by the OECD/G20 Inclusive Framework on Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS 2.0) to address the tax challenges arising from the digitalisation of the economy, and the critics expressed by developing countries, including the African Tax Administration Forum, for side-lining their interests and for not sufficiently addressing the specific loopholes that limit the taxation rights of African countries;

Amendment 57 #

Beata KEMPA

Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 a (new)

6a. Stresses that the Pandora Papers provide an insight into the scope of sanctions against a number of Russian elites in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine; condemns the circumvention of these sanctions by Russia's elites, as revealed in the Pandora Papers, and calls for effective action to be taken to counter this phenomenon;

Amendment 58 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 a (new)

6a. Calls on the EU to support developing countries in combatting illicit financial flows, EU companies and multinationals tax evasion, to ensure taxes are paid where profits and real economic value is created, in order to stop base erosion and to abolish profit- shifting;

Amendment 59 #

Michèle RIVASI, Caroline ROOSE, Pierrette HERZBERGER-FOFANA

Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 b (new)

6b. Stresses that in 2019 the Africa Group at the United Nations called for a UN Convention on Tax, to help to tackle illicit financial flows; believes that an universal intergovernmental body under the auspices of the UN with a mandate to deal with all aspects of illicit financial flows could help to includes all developing countries in the decision making process on tax matters and be an effective tool for to fight tax avoidance, trade mis- invoicing, profit shifting and all forms of illegal commercial and fiscal activities at global level ;

Amendment 6 #

Draft opinion
Recital F (new)

F. whereas according to the report “Tax Transparency in Africa 2022. Africa Initiative Progress report”[1], illicit financial flows are estimated to be in the range of USD 50-80 billion (EUR 48-77 billion) annually for the continent; [1] The report is a joint publication by the African Union Commission, the African Tax Administration Forum and the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of information for Tax Purposes (Global Forum).

Amendment 60 #

Michèle RIVASI, Caroline ROOSE, Pierrette HERZBERGER-FOFANA

Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 b (new)

6b. Stresses that international cooperation is vital for achieving fair and effective domestic tax systems;

Amendment 61 #

Michèle RIVASI, Caroline ROOSE, Pierrette HERZBERGER-FOFANA

Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 c (new)

6c. Calls on the EU to support the setting-up of a UN Framework Convention on Tax, with the aim to strengthening international cooperation and governance on tax and trade-related illicit financial flows; highlights the need to introducing transparent and inclusive decision-making where all countries can negotiate as equals;

Amendment 62 #

Michèle RIVASI, Caroline ROOSE, Pierrette HERZBERGER-FOFANA

Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 c (new)

6c. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to support the proposal of a UN convention on tax;

Amendment 63 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 d (new)

6d. Recalls that the EU and its Member States have recognised that fair, progressive and effective tax systems are vital for the achievement of other UN goals and commitments; stresses that the proposal for a UN Convention on Tax aims to build on these agreements, to increase economic justice at the global level, and respond to the urgent need for new and additional public resources to combat the major global challenges of our time;

Amendment 64 #

Michèle RIVASI, Caroline ROOSE, Pierrette HERZBERGER-FOFANA

Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 e (new)

6e. Recalls that most developing countries struggle to fully realise the expected revenues from the mining sector due to a range of challenges, both external, such as aggressive tax planning by multinationals, and internal, including weak enforcement of tax laws and overly generous tax incentives to transnational companies; stresses the need to achieve a fair balance between national and investor interests in the design of mining fiscal regime; deems that the fiscal conditions and regulations under which extractive industries operate shall be revised;

Amendment 65 #

Michèle RIVASI, Caroline ROOSE, Pierrette HERZBERGER-FOFANA

Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 f (new)

6f. Urges the EU to ensuring a fair distribution of taxing rights while negotiating tax and investment treaties with developing countries; and calls on the EU to increase its technical assistance and funding to strengthen their tax administration;

Amendment 66 #

Michèle RIVASI, Caroline ROOSE, Pierrette HERZBERGER-FOFANA

Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 g (new)

6g. Acknowledges that the extractive sector is particularly prone to illicit outflows in Africa; believes that the review of tax treaties should aim to strengthening the bargaining position of host governments to obtain better returns from their natural resources base and stimulate diversification of their economy; in addition, takes the view that the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) should be made mandatory and extended: they should not focus only on governments but also on producing firms and commodity trading companies;

Amendment 67 #

Michèle RIVASI, Caroline ROOSE, Pierrette HERZBERGER-FOFANA

Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 h (new)

6h. Stresses that multinational companies should report tax information in each country where they operate; encourages developing countries to enact mandatory country-by-country and project-by-project reporting requirements, notably in the mining sector;

Amendment 68 #

Michèle RIVASI, Caroline ROOSE, Pierrette HERZBERGER-FOFANA

Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 i (new)

6i. Calls on governments of developing countries to intensify the fight against corruption and money laundering, as a means to contribute to tackling illicit financial flows;

Amendment 69 #

Michèle RIVASI, Caroline ROOSE, Pierrette HERZBERGER-FOFANA

Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 j (new)

6j. Encourages developing countries to develop regional integration arrangements on tax incentives to prevent harmful competition in the effort to attract foreign direct investment;

Amendment 7 #

Michèle RIVASI, Caroline ROOSE, Pierrette HERZBERGER-FOFANA

Draft opinion
Recital G (new)

G. whereas in 2019, the Africa Group at the United Nations called for a UN Convention on Tax, as an important tool to tackle illicit financial flows; and whereas in February 2021, the High Level Panel on International Financial Accountability, Transparency and Integrity for Achieving the 2030 Agenda (the FACTI Panel) also included the proposal for a UN Tax Convention as a key recommendation in its final report;

Amendment 8 #

Michèle RIVASI, Caroline ROOSE, Pierrette HERZBERGER-FOFANA

Draft opinion
Recital H (new)

H. whereas the potential offered by the taxation of extractive industries to boost fiscal revenues is by and large not well exploited in developing countries due to the inadequacy of tax rules or to difficulties in enforcing them, since transnational companies frequently resort to tax avoidance techniques; whereas this challenge is all the more acute for low- income countries that are heavily dependent on natural resources for their initial development drive;

Amendment 9 #

Udo BULLMANN, Maria NOICHL, Mónica Silvana GONZÁLEZ

Draft opinion
Paragraph -1 (new)

-1. Highlights that the revelations known as the Pandora Papers, released by the International Consortium for Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), show apparent tax evasion and money laundering on a vast scale, in particular through letterbox companies and trusts;

source: 737.319

2022/11/10 LIBE 40 amendments...

Amendment 1 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 1

1. Recalls that tax crime is recognised as a predicate offence of money laundering, which is often linked to organised crime, corruption and the financing of terrorism; calls upon the European Commission to ensure effective implementation of the existing anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) framework, and to strengthen the collaboration in this field among the Member States and the EU institutions and agencies; highlights the importance of the future Anti-Money Laundering Authority (AMLA) as a new EU body for the prevention of money laundering and terrorism financing in the Union, by contributing to enhanced supervision and improved cooperation between Member States’ financial intelligence units (FIUs) and supervisory authorities;

Amendment 10 #

Ramona STRUGARIU, Lucia ĎURIŠ NICHOLSONOVÁ, Hilde VAUTMANS, Michal ŠIMEČKA, Maite PAGAZAURTUNDÚA, Fabio Massimo CASTALDO, Daniel FREUND, Danuta Maria HÜBNER, Fabienne KELLER, Stelios KOULOGLOU

Draft opinion
Paragraph 2 a (new)

2 a. Recalls that the revelation by Pandora Papers, Paradise Papers, Panama Papers, Suisse secrets, and OpenLux, revealed hidden assets of politically exposed persons such as Mossack Fonseca, Tony Blair, Andrej Babiš, Silvio Berlusconi, and Wopke Hoekstra. remarks that government ministers and lawmakers have the utmost duty to uphold the law to its fullest extent and act in line with the spirit of the law at all times. points out that failing to do so erodes public trust in government, the very fundament of a state and calls on politically exposed persons to report on all current and former financial interests and assets, as well as strong sanctions for failing to do so;

Amendment 11 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 2 a (new)

2 a. Highlights that beneficial ownership transparency is fundamental for enhancing the fight against tax crime, stresses that the disclosure and publication of beneficial ownership information has legitimate public interest purposes; calls on Member States' authorities to ensure that investigative journalists and civil society have proper access to and are able to exercise scrutiny over this information;

Amendment 12 #

Ramona STRUGARIU, Lucia ĎURIŠ NICHOLSONOVÁ, Hilde VAUTMANS, Michal ŠIMEČKA, Maite PAGAZAURTUNDÚA, Fabio Massimo CASTALDO, Daniel FREUND, Danuta Maria HÜBNER, Fabienne KELLER, Stelios KOULOGLOU

Draft opinion
Paragraph 3

3. Calls for ~~cooper~~stronger cooperation and coordination between the authorities responsible for combating tax evasion, money laundering, terrorist financing, and serious organised crime at both national and European level; urges Member States and EU authorities to devote substantial efforts to recover money acquired by illegal or unfair means; regrets the fact that the information obtained by tax authorities in the context of Council Directive 2011/16/EU of 15 February 2011 on administrative cooperation in the field of taxation and repealing Directive 77/799/EEC1 cannot be used for criminal investigation and prosecution purposes; _________________ 1 OJ L 64, 11.3.2011, p. 1.

Amendment 13 #

Konstantinos ARVANITIS

Draft opinion
Paragraph 3

3. Calls for cooperation between the authorities responsible for combating tax evasion, money laundering and serious organised crime at both national and European level; regrets the fact that the information obtained by tax authorities in the context of Council Directive 2011/16/EU of 15 February 2011 on administrative cooperation in the field of taxation and repealing Directive 77/799/EEC1 cannot be used for criminal investigation and prosecution purposes; calls for a clarification, in the EU framework on AML, of the interplay between administrative and criminal law; _________________ 1 OJ L 64, 11.3.2011, p. 1.

Amendment 14 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 a (new)

3 a. Calls for the adoption of further initiatives that could enforce actions at EU and national level in AML/CTF, such as widening the competences of the European Public Prosecutor's Office (EPPO) or the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) and strengthening existing agencies such as the European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation (Europol);

Amendment 15 #

Ramona STRUGARIU, Lucia ĎURIŠ NICHOLSONOVÁ, Hilde VAUTMANS, Michal ŠIMEČKA, Maite PAGAZAURTUNDÚA, Fabio Massimo CASTALDO, Daniel FREUND, Danuta Maria HÜBNER, Fabienne KELLER, Stelios KOULOGLOU

Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 b (new)

3 b. Stresses that the main challenge identified in respect to the application of the provisions of Directive (EU) 2015/849 is the lack of direct applicability of those rules and a fragmentation of the approach along national lines; additionally highlights the findings of the European Court of Auditors' (ECA) Special Report 13/2021, according to which “EU efforts to fight money laundering in the banking sector are fragmented and implementation is insufficient”; underlines that such fragmentation could seriously compromise the integrity of the Union’s financial system and cause serious vulnerabilities in the internal market; welcomes in this regard the European Commission proposals on a new European anti-money laundering legal framework, aiming to achieve the desired uniformity of application and to eliminate divergences and inconsistencies of implementation practices within Member States;

Amendment 16 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 4

4. DRegrets that the Council of EU Finance Ministers removed the Seychelles from the EU list of non-cooperative jurisdictions two days after the publication of the Pandora Papers; urges the Council to adapt a comprehensive reform of the EU list of non-cooperative jurisdictions for tax purposes to systematically cover countries that unjustly offer low tax rates to corporations and high-net worth individuals, contributing to tax avoidance in their home countries, and increasing risks of money laundering; urges the Commission to additionally monitor European countries severely and initiate infringement proceedings when found to not respect the listing criteria of the EU list of non-cooperative jurisdictions; deeply regrets the lack of a strong beneficial ownership criterion for the EU list of non-cooperative jurisdictions; calls on the Economic and Financial Affairs Council to come forward with a strong beneficial ownership criterion;

Amendment 17 #

4 a. Welcomes the uncovering by the investigative journalists of a complex system of tax havens, shell corporations, and offshore accounts, whose beneficial owners are persons of high public interest; underscores in particular in this regard the positive role the journalists had in bringing to light the opaque financial operations of highest-ranking elected public officials;

Amendment 18 #

Ramona STRUGARIU, Lucia ĎURIŠ NICHOLSONOVÁ, Hilde VAUTMANS, Michal ŠIMEČKA, Maite PAGAZAURTUNDÚA, Fabio Massimo CASTALDO, Daniel FREUND, Danuta Maria HÜBNER, Fabienne KELLER, Stelios KOULOGLOU

Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 a (new)

4 a. Points out that the Pandora Papers showed that U.S. Trusts have become a go-to vehicle for financial secrecy and remarks that U.S. states like South Dakota, Florida, Delaware, Texas and Nevada make the U.S one of the biggest players in the offshore world; calls on these states to be considered tax havens and be included in the AML and taxation black lists;

Amendment 19 #

Konstantinos ARVANITIS

Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 a (new)

4 a. Calls for a clear and comprehensive definition of politically exposed persons (PEPs),and enhanced scrutiny;

Amendment 2 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 a (new)

1 a. Underlines the essential role played by investigative journalists in uncovering tax crimes, corruption and organised crime; highlights the vulnerability to threats and attacks of independent journalists and media workers in the absence of a strong European legislative framework to protect journalists; recalls that the number of threats and attacks against journalists has increased over the past years in the EU, with the most serious cases seeing the assassination of journalists and media workers; welcomes the Recommendation on ensuring the protection, safety and empowerment of journalists and other media professionals in the European Union; stresses nevertheless that this can only be considered a starting point and calls for urgent action on establishing binding measures ensuring the protection of journalists and media workers across the Union;

Amendment 20 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 b (new)

4 b. Welcomes the adoption of the first final rule on beneficial ownership reporting under the United States (US) Corporate Transparency Act; regrets that the US has been considered the global frontrunner in offering financial secrecy to corporates and individuals; urges the US Treasury Department to proceed with the remaining regulatory process to fully implement the law as soon as possible;

Amendment 21 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 c (new)

4 c. 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 22 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 d (new)

4 d. Stresses that progress in tackling the use of anonymous companies can only be possible if information about beneficial owners is easily 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 23 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 e (new)

4 e. Welcomes further that the FATF is conducting a review of Recommendation 25 on the transparency and Beneficial Ownership Information of legal arrangements;

Amendment 24 #

4 f. 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 by 10 January 2020; deplores that several Member States have delayed implementation of these requirements;

Amendment 25 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 g (new)

4 g. 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 in the setting-up of the Beneficial Ownership Registers Interconnection System (BORIS) due to technical difficulties;

Amendment 26 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 h (new)

4 h. 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, tax administrations, 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 a functioning interconnection system, and calls on all actors to address this delay as a matter of urgency;

Amendment 27 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 5

5. Calls for tax havens to be automatically registered in the EU’s anti- money laundering list of ‘high-risk’ third countries; ~~calls for the United Arab Emirates to be identifi~~recommends that states and entities where oligarchs, millionaires and companies hide their funds are included in such list; welcomes that Commissioner Mairead McGuinness announced his intention to propose to add the United Arab Emirates to the list of ‘high risk’ countries; calls for the United Arab Emirates to be urgently listed as a high- risk third country, also in light of recent media revelations that this country facilitated money laundering at a grand scale and is actively used by Russian oligarchs to escape EU sanctions;

Amendment 28 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 5

Amendment 29 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 a (new)

5 a. Recalls the Parliament’s motion for Resolution on reforming the EU list of tax havens; calls on the EU and Member States to respond to and implement the requests of this resolution in any future review of the Code of conduct on Business Taxation; points out that several individual Member States have more comprehensive blacklists than the EU and calls upon the Commission to reassess countries that appear on a national but not on the EU list and to provide a reasoned explanation for the absence of these countries;

Amendment 3 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 a (new)

1 a. Points out that journalist and whistle-blowers are essential in uncovering cases of tax avoidance and evasion, corruption, organised crime and money laundering; regrets that journalists like Peter R. de Vries, Daphne Caruana Galizia and Jan Kuciak were murdered in relation to journalistic revelations; therefore deems it important to specifically address the protection of journalists in whistle blowers cases;

Amendment 30 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 a (new)

5 a. Recommends the EU to subject lawyers among the obliged entities where their legal advice, including in relation to tax matters, is knowingly provided or used by the client for the purpose of money laundering, its predicate offences or terrorist financing;

Amendment 31 #

Konstantinos ARVANITIS

Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 a (new)

5 a. Regrets that the FATF list of high- risk jurisdictions is politically biased, and that important high-risk jurisdictions are not included;

Amendment 32 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 b (new)

5 b. 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 33 #

Milan UHRÍK

Draft opinion
Paragraph 6

6. Asks the Commission to publish a list of assets frozen or confiscated following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine; urges the Commission to provide precise information on Member States’ progress in repealing or withdrawing citizenship and residence permits granted on the basis of financial investment to Russian and Belarusian nationals subject to EU restrictive measures; calls ~~for a total ban on such schemes across the EU~~on the Commission also to pay particular attention to the assets of Ukrainian officials, including Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, as the Pandora Papers show that Zelenskyy and his partners in the TV production company Kvartal 95 have created a network of offshore companies since 2012;

Amendment 34 #

Ramona STRUGARIU, Lucia ĎURIŠ NICHOLSONOVÁ, Hilde VAUTMANS, Michal ŠIMEČKA, Maite PAGAZAURTUNDÚA, Fabio Massimo CASTALDO, Daniel FREUND, Danuta Maria HÜBNER, Fabienne KELLER, Stelios KOULOGLOU

Draft opinion
Paragraph 6

6. Asks the Commission to publish a list of assets frozen or confiscated by each Member State following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and to share more information on the work conducted by the ‘Freeze and Seize’ Task Force; urges the Commission to provide precise information on Member States’ progress in repealing or withdrawing citizenship and residence permits granted on the basis of financial investment to Russian and Belarusian nationals subject to EU restrictive measures; calls for a total ban on ~~such~~residence by investment schemes across the EU;

Amendment 35 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 6

Amendment 36 #

Ramona STRUGARIU, Lucia ĎURIŠ NICHOLSONOVÁ, Hilde VAUTMANS, Michal ŠIMEČKA, Maite PAGAZAURTUNDÚA, Fabio Massimo CASTALDO, Daniel FREUND, Stelios KOULOGLOU, Danuta Maria HÜBNER

Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 a (new)

6 a. Recalls the important role of digital land registers in enhancing the fight against tax crime across the Union; calls on the European Commission to put forward an ambitious proposal requiring and assisting Member States to establish reliable digital land registers, enhancing transparency in the field of land ownership;

Amendment 37 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 7

7. ~~Calls for strict~~Urges the Commission and EU agencies to adopt stricter guidelines for officials who want to take up positions outside of the EU institutions after their service or during leave on personal grounds, given the alarming report of the European Court of Auditors2a and the European Ombudsman’s decision OI/1/2021/KR of 16 May 2022 on how the European Commission manages ‘revolving- door~~s’ rules for high-ranking EU officials.~~ ’ moves of its staff members; calls on the EU institutions to make sure that restrictions imposed on former senior staff members or staff members on leave for personal grounds are effectively shared with and enforced by the new employer; calls on the Commission not to approve requests from former senior staff members to take up activities in the private sector when reservations exist as to possibility to mitigate the potential risks deriving from the moves; _________________ 2a “Annual report on EU agencies for the financial year 2021”, European Court of Auditors, 27 October 2022.

Amendment 38 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 7

7. Calls for strict ‘revolving-doors’ rules for high-ranking EU officials.; calls upon the Member States ensure detection of undeclared ‘revolving doors’ situations and safeguard compliance with existing legislation;

Amendment 39 #

Ramona STRUGARIU, Lucia ĎURIŠ NICHOLSONOVÁ, Hilde VAUTMANS, Michal ŠIMEČKA, Maite PAGAZAURTUNDÚA, Fabio Massimo CASTALDO, Daniel FREUND, Danuta Maria HÜBNER

Draft opinion
Paragraph 7 a (new)

7 a. Highlights that without the courage of whistleblowers, and the work of journalists, tax evasion, corruption, and money laundering could continue unchecked; stresses the need for a stronger protection of whistleblowers and the work of journalists, including from spyware attacks; regrets the fact that only ten Member States have passed legislation to transpose the directive 2019/1937/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2019 on the protection of persons who report breaches of Union law3a, while 15 are still in the process of doing so, and two have taken no or minimal action; calls on the European Commission to open infringement procedures against the remaining Member States. _________________ 3a OJ L 305, 26.11.2019, p. 17.

Amendment 4 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 b (new)

1 b. Welcomes the European Commission proposal of a Directive on protecting persons who engage in public participation from manifestly unfounded or abusive court proceedings, also known as the anti-SLAPP Directive; recalls the enormous financial and psychological burdens that strategic lawsuits against public participation (SLAPPs) lay on the work of journalists and media workers, creating a chilling effect and leading to self censorship; underlines that a strong EU anti-SLAPP directive must entail clear provisions on early dismissal mechanisms and effective sanctions against SLAPP initiators, including of pecuniary nature; stresses that an effective anti-SLAPP framework cannot exist in the absence of coordinated complementary measures taken at national level; calls on national authorities to adopt anti-SLAPP legislation tackling domestic lawsuits against public participation;

Amendment 40 #

Milan UHRÍK

Draft opinion
Paragraph 7 a (new)

7 a. Calls on the Commission, as part of the principle of equal treatment and in order to draw lessons from the Panama Papers and other cases, to make public the declassified contracts for the purchase of all types of COVID-19 vaccines from all contracted and non-contracted suppliers to the European Medicines Agency;

Amendment 5 #

Ramona STRUGARIU, Lucia ĎURIŠ NICHOLSONOVÁ, Hilde VAUTMANS, Michal ŠIMEČKA, Maite PAGAZAURTUNDÚA, Fabio Massimo CASTALDO, Daniel FREUND, Danuta Maria HÜBNER, Fabienne KELLER, Stelios KOULOGLOU

Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 b (new)

1 b. Highlights that while the whistle blowers directive was adopted in 2019 and the directive includes an obligation to transpose it into national law by 17 December 2021, 16 Member States have delayed its transposition and Hungary has not even started. calls on these Member States to implement this directive with post-haste;

Amendment 6 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 c (new)

1 c. Stresses that investigative journalists and media workers are often subject to intense financial pressure and encounter great difficulties in finding financial resources for projects investigating tax crime, corruption or organised crime; calls on the European Commission to explore further ways to increase funding available to the media sector, including by establishing a dedicated permanent fund for investigative journalism;

Amendment 7 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 2

2. Stresses that the concealment of beneficial ownership through chains of shell companies can be used not only to circumvent tax legislation, but also to impede the tracking, freezing and confiscation of the proceeds and instrumentalities of crime, as well as to circumvent EU restrictive measures; calls for a complete ban on shell companies through the appropriate legislative means, tackling both the lack of transparency of ownership of such structures but also their ability to benefit from tax residence status;

Amendment 8 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 2

Amendment 9 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 2 a (new)

2 a. Condemns the practice of operating citizenship by investment (CBI) schemes that confer citizenship on third- country nationals in exchange for primarily financial considerations; highlights the security, societal and money laundering risks of this practice and their inherent incompatibility with the principle of sincere cooperation, undermining the essence of EU integrity; calls on Malta as the only remaining Member State running such scheme to stop the practice; reminds that residence by investment (RBI) schemes may pose similar risks and should therefore be subject to clear rules with strong due diligence and vetting procedures for applicants; reiterates its call in its resolution from 9 March 20221a to ban CBI schemes and regulate RBI schemes; _________________ 1a European Parliament resolution of 9 March 2022 with proposals to the Commission on citizenship and residence by investment schemes (2021/2026(INL))

source: 738.575

2022/11/24 ECON 183 amendments...

Amendment 1 #

Motion for a resolution
Citation 2 a (new)

— having regard to the European Court of Auditors' annual report entitled 'Annual report on EU agencies for the financial year 2021',

Amendment 10 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital B a (new)

B a. whereas a number of politicians, including EU high-level decision-makers, have also featured in the Pandora Papers, and calls on the authorities of the Member States involved to carry out appropriate investigations into any wrongdoing; deplores, in particular, the mention in Pandora Papers with reported links with offshore dealings of politicians such as Nicos Anastasiades, the President of Cyprus and who sits on the European Council; Wopke Hoekstra, the Dutch Minister of Foreign affairs; Ilham Aliyev, the President of Azerbaijan; Milo Đukanović, the President of Montenegro; former British Prime Minister Tony Blair; John Dalli, former Maltese Minister and former EU Commissioner; and Andrej Babiš, former Prime Minister of Czechia;

Amendment 100 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11 c (new)

11c. Calls on the Commission to assess the advantageous tax regimes in the EU, as in Portugal, which aim to attract crypto-assets; notes that such tax regimes can cause significant distortions of the single market and encourage more speculative behaviour, thereby undermining the stability of the financial sector;

Amendment 101 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12

12. Is concerned that there is considerable scope for harmful competition in this field and widening social and economic inequalities, as tax-induced mobility is high among income- and wealth-rich taxpayers13; asks the Commission and the Member States to consider an ‘Inequalities Contribution’ as a new own resource; suggests that the ‘Inequalities Contribution’ impose on the Member States a national contribution based on the share of the total national income held by the richest 10%; _________________ 13 European Parliament Directorate- General for Internal Policies, Policy Department for Economic, Scientific and Quality of Life Policies, Harmful Practices and Competition in the Area of Personal Income and Wealth Taxation, January 2022.

Amendment 102 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12

12. Is concerned that there is considerable scope for harmful competition in this field and widening social and economic inequalities, as tax-induced mobility is high among income- and wealth-rich taxpayers13; draws attention, in this context, to the growing phenomenon of so-called 'digital nomads' and urges that efforts towards the harmonisation and simplification of tax systems in the EU serve to create a level playing field for this group as well as for on-location-based workers; _________________ 13 European Parliament Directorate- General for Internal Policies, Policy Department for Economic, Scientific and Quality of Life Policies, Harmful Practices and Competition in the Area of Personal Income and Wealth Taxation, January 2022.

Amendment 103 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12 a (new)

12 a. Notes that the EU Fiscal Observatory estimates that preferential schemes generate a loss of revenue of over EUR 4.5 billion per year for the EU as a whole and, moreover, ranks the Italian and Greek HNWI regimes, the Cypriot high-income regime, and the Cypriot, Greek, and Portuguese pension schemes as the most harmful;

Amendment 104 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12 b (new)

12 b. Stresses the transformative nature of these tax regimes and the need for a continuous assessing of their potential harmful impact; Regrets that some Member States are ending Golden Visa schemes at the same time that special tax regimes for Digital Nomads are being created;

Amendment 105 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13

13. Calls for the scope of the Code of Conduct Group on Business Taxation to be expanded, in particular to include preferential personal income or capital tax regimes, or personal income and wealth tax regimes that could lead to significant distortions in the single market; considers that this could enable the scope of the Code of Conduct Group to capture regimes aimed at attracting high net worth and high levels of income not created in the Member State proposing the tax regime;deleted

Amendment 106 #

Billy KELLEHER, Olivier CHASTEL

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13

13. Calls for the scope of the Code of Conduct Group on Business Taxation to be expanded, in particular to include preferential personal income or capital tax regimes, or personal income and wealth tax regimes that could lead to significant distortions in the single market; considers that this could enable the scopeTakes note of the Council agreement on broadening the scope of the Code of Conduct on Business Taxation; calls ofn the Code of Conduct Group ~~to capture regimes aimed at attracting high net worth and high levels of income not created in the Member State proposing the tax regim~~on Business to Taxation to make full use of its revised mandate;

Amendment 107 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13

13. Calls for the scope of the Code of Conduct Group on Business Taxation to be expanded, in particular to include preferential personal income or capital tax regimes, or personal income and wealth tax regimes that could ~~lead to significant distortions in the single market; considers th~~facilitate thise co~~uld enable the scope of the Code of Conduct Group to capture regimes aimed at attracting high net worth and high levels of income not created in the Member State proposing the tax regime~~ncealment of assets, perpetuate corruption and enable money laundering;

Amendment 108 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13

13. ~~Calls for~~Suggests that the Council consider expanding the scope of the Code of Conduct Group on Business Taxation ~~to be expanded~~, in particular to include preferential personal income or capital tax regimes, or personal income and wealth tax regimes that could lead to significant distortions in the single market; considers that this could enable the scope of the Code of Conduct Group to capture regimes aimed at attracting high net worth and high levels of income not created in the Member State proposing the tax regime;

Amendment 109 #

Niels FUGLSANG, Marek BELKA, Pedro MARQUES, Aurore LALUCQ, Joachim SCHUSTER, Jonás FERNÁNDEZ, Paul TANG

Motion for a resolution
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 11 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital B a (new)

B a. whereas the Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky features prominently in the Pandora papers; whereas part of his network of offshore companies is managed by Fidelity Corporate Services, an offshore consultancy that was one of 14 firms whose documents make up part of the Pandora Papers leak, proving that Zelensky and his partners use companies based in the British Virgin Islands, Belize, and Cyprus; whereas two of Zelensky’s associates in the offshore network, were later awarded powerful government positions: Serhiy Shefir asZelensky’s top presidential aide, and Ivan Bakanov as the head of the Security Service of Ukraine;

Amendment 110 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13 a (new)

13a. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to take the lead in the OECD, and in particular in the OECD/G20 Inclusive Framework, in order to create a level playing field in the taxation of capital gains and to limit harmful tax practices aimed at attracting wealthy individuals, digital nomads and luxury assets;

Amendment 111 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13 a (new)

13 a. Reiterates its concerns that schemes granting nationality or residency on the basis of a financial investment , also known as ‘golden passports’, are objectionable from an ethical, legal and economic point of view and pose several serious security risks for Union citizens, such as those stemming from money- laundering and corruption;

Amendment 112 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13 a (new)

13a. Notes that the resolution adopted by Parliament on 21 January 2021 on reforming the list of tax havens has not produced any tangible results;

Amendment 113 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13 b (new)

13b. Is deeply concerned that the United State allows non-US citizens to enjoy financial secrecy; calls on the Commission and the Member States to enter into fresh negotiations with the US within the framework of the OECD in order to achieve total reciprocity within an agreed and strengthened CRS framework;

Amendment 114 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14

Amendment 115 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14

Amendment 116 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14

Amendment 117 #

José Manuel GARCÍA-MARGALLO Y MARFIL, Isabel BENJUMEA BENJUMEA

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14

Amendment 118 #

14. Calls on the governments of the Member States to reverse the trend of curbing the taxes of top earners and proceed with the adoption of net wealth taxes; considers that such taxes should have a tailored scope to fit the asset portfolio of the wealthiest individuals, focusing on property, succession, financial assets and luxury goods above certain thresholds; calls on the Commission to promote initiatives at EU level to coordinate the implementation of such taxes in order to prevent evasion and avoidance in the single market; Observes that, from an efficiency and an equity perspective, there are limited arguments for having a net wealth tax when broad-based personal income taxes are in place. Acknowledges that net wealth taxes entail different risks such as double taxation, negative effects on entrepreneurship and liquidity concerns1a; _________________ 1a OECD. Publishing, 2018. The Role and Design of Net Wealth Taxes in the OECD. OECD.

Amendment 119 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14

14. ~~Calls on the governments of the Member St~~Highlights that within Europe’s Social Market Economy adequates to reverse the trend of curbing the taxes of top earners and proceed with the adoption of net wealth taxes; considers that such taxes should have a tailored scope to fit the asset portfolio of the wealthiest individuals, focusing on property, succession, financial assets and luxury goods above certain thresholds; calls on the Commission to promoax levels as well as simple and clear tax laws create jobs, improve Europe’s competitiveness, and are the first line of defence against tax evasion and tax avoidance; deplores, in this regard, the reluctance of Member States to better implement and apply EU laws and recommendations resulting often in~~itiatives at EU level to coordinate the implementation of such taxes in order to prevent evasion and avoidance in the single market~~ self- caused less taxable revenue and higher costs to ensure compliance;

Amendment 12 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital B a (new)

Ba. whereas the Pandora Papers are the latest major data leak to expose the inner workings of the offshore financial world, following on from Lux Leaks in 2014, Swiss Leaks in 2015, the Panama Papers in 2016, the Paradise Papers in 2017, Mauritius Leaks in 2019, Luanda Leaks and the FinCEN Files in 2020, together with Lux Letters in 2021;

Amendment 120 #

Esther DE LANGE

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14

14. Calls on the governments of the Member States to ~~reverse the trend of curbing the taxes of top earners and proceed with the adoption of net wealth taxes;~~lower taxes on labour, increase taxes that address pollution and considers t~~hat such taxes should have a tailored scope to fit the asset portfolio of the wealthi~~ax rebates which help the European Union to remain an attractive dest in~~dividuals, focusing on property, succession, financial assets and luxury goods above certain thresholds~~ation for investment in energy security and the green transition; calls on the Commission to promote initiatives at EU level to coordinate the implementation of such taxes and rebates in order to prevent evasion and avoidance in the single market;

Amendment 121 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14 a (new)

14 a. Deplores the use of harmful tax practices by the Member States, which are a root cause of tax evasion and avoidance, as further exposed by the Pandora Papers; supports an extension of the EU tax haven blacklist to cover EU tax havens, such as Hungary, Ireland, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands and Cyprus;

Amendment 122 #

Niels FUGLSANG, Marek BELKA, Pedro MARQUES, Aurore LALUCQ, Joachim SCHUSTER, Jonás FERNÁNDEZ, Paul TANG

Motion for a resolution
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 123 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14 a (new)

14a. Notes that some Member States have reduced their capital gains taxes to zero per cent, giving wealthy individuals numerous opportunities for tax planning; calls for an adequate and proportional minimum tax on capital gains in the EU;

Amendment 124 #

Niels FUGLSANG, Marek BELKA, Aurore LALUCQ, Joachim SCHUSTER, Jonás FERNÁNDEZ, Paul TANG

Motion for a resolution
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 125 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14 b (new)

14b. Recalls that Article 116 TFEU can be used to combat harmful tax practices that distort competition in the EU through the ordinary legislative procedure;

Amendment 126 #

Use of shell companies ~~and~~, trusts and ~~the exchange of information with~~real estate assets and the fight against tax evasion in jurisdictions that figure prominently in the Pandora Papers

Amendment 127 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15

15. Welcomes the adoption of the first final rule on beneficial ownership reporting under the 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 possible;

Amendment 128 #

Niels FUGLSANG, Marek BELKA, Pedro MARQUES, Aurore LALUCQ, Joachim SCHUSTER, Paul TANG

Motion for a resolution
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 C~~ommon Reporting Standard as soon as possible~~RS as soon as possible, thereby fully exchanging information with other countries on a reciprocate basis;

Amendment 129 #

Niels FUGLSANG, Marek BELKA, Alfred SANT, Pedro MARQUES, Aurore LALUCQ, Joachim SCHUSTER, Jonás FERNÁNDEZ, Paul TANG

Motion for a resolution
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 13 #

Niels FUGLSANG, Marek BELKA, Pedro MARQUES, Aurore LALUCQ, Joachim SCHUSTER, Jonás FERNÁNDEZ, Paul TANG

Motion for a resolution
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 130 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15 a (new)

15 a. Points out that the Pandora Papers showed that U.S. Trusts have become a go-to vehicle for financial secrecy and remarks that U.S. states like South Dakota, Florida, Delaware, Texas and Nevada make the U.S one of the biggest players in the offshore world. Calls on the EC to look into these states, report on these states to the European Parliament and to include these states in the AML and taxation black lists;

Amendment 131 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15 b (new)

15 b. Recalls the Parliament’s motion for Resolution on reforming the EU list of tax havens; calls on the EU and Member States to respond to and implement the requests of this resolution in any future review of the Code of conduct on Business Taxation; points out that several individual Member States have more comprehensive blacklists than the EU and calls upon the Commission to reassess countries that appear on a national but not on the EU list and to provide a reasoned explanation for the absence of these countries;

Amendment 132 #

Niels FUGLSANG, Pedro MARQUES, Marek BELKA, Aurore LALUCQ, Joachim SCHUSTER, Jonás FERNÁNDEZ, Alfred SANT, Paul TANG

Motion for a resolution
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 #

Niels FUGLSANG, Pedro MARQUES, Marek BELKA, Aurore LALUCQ, Joachim SCHUSTER, Jonás FERNÁNDEZ, Alfred SANT, Paul TANG

Motion for a resolution
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 #

Niels FUGLSANG, Pedro MARQUES, Marek BELKA, Aurore LALUCQ, Joachim SCHUSTER, Jonás FERNÁNDEZ, Alfred SANT, Paul TANG

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 #

Niels FUGLSANG, Pedro MARQUES, Marek BELKA, Aurore LALUCQ, Joachim SCHUSTER, Jonás FERNÁNDEZ, Alfred SANT, Paul TANG

Motion for a resolution
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 #

Niels FUGLSANG, Pedro MARQUES, Marek BELKA, Aurore LALUCQ, Joachim SCHUSTER, Jonás FERNÁNDEZ, Alfred SANT, Paul TANG

Motion for a resolution
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 #

Niels FUGLSANG, Pedro MARQUES, Marek BELKA, Aurore LALUCQ, Joachim SCHUSTER, Jonás FERNÁNDEZ, Alfred SANT, Paul TANG

Motion for a resolution
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 #

Niels FUGLSANG, Pedro MARQUES, Marek BELKA, Aurore LALUCQ, Joachim SCHUSTER, Jonás FERNÁNDEZ, Alfred SANT, Paul TANG

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 #

Niels FUGLSANG, Marek BELKA, Pedro MARQUES, Aurore LALUCQ, Joachim SCHUSTER, Paul TANG

Motion for a resolution
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 14 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital B a (new)

Ba. whereas the EU policy of drawing up lists of uncooperative tax jurisdictions is not effective and has not been successful in combating tax evasion, as some tax haven states are both judge and jury in the drawing up of the blacklists;

Amendment 140 #

Niels FUGLSANG, Marek BELKA, Pedro MARQUES, Aurore LALUCQ, Joachim SCHUSTER, Paul TANG

Motion for a resolution
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 #

Niels FUGLSANG, Marek BELKA, Pedro MARQUES, Aurore LALUCQ, Joachim SCHUSTER, Paul TANG

Motion for a resolution
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 142 #

Niels FUGLSANG, Aurore LALUCQ, Joachim SCHUSTER, Jonás FERNÁNDEZ, Paul TANG

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15 l (new)

15 l. Recalls that the EU list on non- cooperative jurisdictions assesses whether a jurisdiction has at least a ‘largely compliant’ rating with the CRS according to the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes; calls on the Council to reassess the US in the framework of the EU list, with particular regard to the tax transparency criteria; calls on the Commission to follow suit should any Member State be rated ‘non-compliant’ or ‘partially-compliant’ by the Global Forum, notably via infringement procedures if appropriate;

Amendment 143 #

Motion for a resolution
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;~~ _________________ 14 COM(2021)0565.

Amendment 144 #

Motion for a resolution
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; stresses, nonetheless, that in order to have an effective impact in the fight against tax evasion, the directive has to include proper economic criteria to assess if a company is or not a shell company, for instance: profitability per employee and per assets, the productivity per employee and the turnover on assets; moreover, recalls the necessity of appropriate consequences if an undertaking does not meet the minimal substance criteria and does not provide evidence of not serving merely for tax advantages purposes, namely the denial of the certificate of tax residence and other dissuasive sanctions; _________________ 14 COM(2021)0565.

Amendment 145 #

Motion for a resolution
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; notes with concern that some Member States, such as Luxembourg, are reducing the scope of the proposal, including by extending the exhaustive list of exclusions; notes also that some Member States want to limit the proposal to a simple exchange of information by removing the possibility, which is necessary, of introducing penalties, and without consequences for tax residence; urges the Member States to adopt an ambitious proposal; calls on the Commission to withdraw the proposal if the Member States dilute the text too much; _________________ 14 COM(2021)0565.

Amendment 146 #

Niels FUGLSANG, Marek BELKA, Pedro MARQUES, Aurore LALUCQ, Joachim SCHUSTER, Jonás FERNÁNDEZ, Paul TANG

Motion for a resolution
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 147 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16

16. Notes that shell companies are often used for aggressive tax planning or tax evasion purposes; 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; underlines that establishing new transparency standards around the use of shell entities will help in making sure their abuse can be more easily detected by tax authorities; _________________ 14 COM(2021)0565.

Amendment 148 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16

Amendment 149 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16 a (new)

16 a. Notes that the Pandora Papers identified examples of individuals circumventing BO transparency in Member States; Calls on the European Commission to expand the scope of registers of BOs to require Member States to establish fully public, freely-accessible, machine-readable registers of BOs that include companies, trusts and similar legal structures; Calls on the European Commission to reduce the shareholding threshold to ensure that all beneficial owners are required to register their interests and ensure that any natural exercising control also qualifies as beneficial owner;

Amendment 15 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital B a (new)

B a. whereas the Pandora Papers’ revelations reported on the creation of shell companies with the purpose of moving money between bank accounts, avoiding taxes and carrying out financial crimes, including money laundering, terrorist financing and circumventing EU sanctions for Russian oligarchs;

Amendment 150 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16 a (new)

16 a. Points out that several EU member states have preferential corporate tax systems such as the Irish ‘single Malt’ and the Maltese rebate system lead to billions of losses in tax revenue for other EU Member State. Calls for more transparency concerning preferential tax systems as well as more tax solidarity among EU Member States;

Amendment 151 #

Niels FUGLSANG, Marek BELKA, Alfred SANT, Pedro MARQUES, Aurore LALUCQ, Joachim SCHUSTER, Jonás FERNÁNDEZ, Paul TANG

Motion for a resolution
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 152 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16 b (new)

16 b. Notes that still a few member states see disproportionate inflows and outflows of foreign direct investment and passive income, and that these flows reflect at least partly phantom investment, as the IMF calls this, that is intended to avoid taxation and to launder money. Notes that this is harmful tax competition and brings distortion to the internal market. Calls upon the Commission to continue to monitor Member States for enabling aggressive tax planning, report to the European Parliament on this and to come forward with country specific recommendation to fight aggressive tax planning and to exert pressure on these member states to implement the reforms. This holds a fortiori for the member states that the European Parliament has classified as tax havens, in particular the Netherland, Ireland, Luxemburg, Malta and Cyprus;

Amendment 153 #

Niels FUGLSANG, Marek BELKA, Pedro MARQUES, Aurore LALUCQ, Joachim SCHUSTER, Jonás FERNÁNDEZ, Paul TANG

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16 b (new)

16 b. Welcomes the revision of the Code of Conduct on Business Taxation agreed by the Council of Finance Ministers on the 8th of November 2022; highlights that the revision introduces the concept of 'tax features of general application' which will be regarded as harmful if they lead to double non-taxation or the double/multiple use of tax benefits, as requested by the Parliament; regrets that the agreed revision, however, falls short of expectations and reiterated demands16a; _________________ 16a Reforming the EU policy on harmful tax practices (including the reform of the Code of Conduct Group) [2021] C 132/13

Amendment 154 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16 b (new)

16 b. Calls for an international implementation of a Global Assets Registry as defended by the G20 and stresses the EU Fiscal Observatory's defense of of an European Assets Registry;

Amendment 155 #

Niels FUGLSANG, Marek BELKA, Pedro MARQUES, Aurore LALUCQ, Joachim SCHUSTER, Jonás FERNÁNDEZ, Paul TANG

Motion for a resolution
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 #

Niels FUGLSANG, Marek BELKA, Pedro MARQUES, Aurore LALUCQ, Joachim SCHUSTER, Jonás FERNÁNDEZ, Paul TANG

Motion for a resolution
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 #

Niels FUGLSANG, Marek BELKA, Pedro MARQUES, Aurore LALUCQ, Joachim SCHUSTER, Jonás FERNÁNDEZ, Paul TANG

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17

Amendment 158 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17

17. Is deeply disappointed by the failure of finance ministers to adopt the much-needed reform of the Code of Conduct for Business Taxation on 7 December 2021, after several unsuccessful attempts; condemns Hungary and Estonia, in particular, for blocking the reformWelcomes that the EU finance ministers agreed on the reform of the mandate of the Code of Conduct Group on the 8th November 2022; recalls that this reform is a slight improvement on the definition of harmful corporate tax regimes; deplores however that the definition of harmful tax regime remains vague, and only applies in the EU and to new national tax regimes; recalls that the process still lacks transparency; recalls that the European Parliament is still waiting for the reform of the criteria governing the EU tax haven list;

Amendment 159 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17

Amendment 16 #

Niels FUGLSANG, Marek BELKA, Alfred SANT, Pedro MARQUES, Aurore LALUCQ, Joachim SCHUSTER, Jonás FERNÁNDEZ, Paul TANG

Motion for a resolution
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 160 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17

17. ~~Is deeply disappointed by the failure of finance ministers to adopt~~Welcomes the recent adoption of the much-needed reform of the Code of Conduct for Business Taxation ~~on 7 December 2021, after several unsuccessful attempts; condemns Hungary and Estonia, in particular, for blocking the reform~~at the ECOFIN meeting in November; notes that this is the first revision of the Code of Conduct since 1997; deeply regrets that after 25 years the revision remains limited and lacking in ambition; condemns the previous vetos of the reform of the Code of Conduct by some Member States;

Amendment 161 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17

17. ~~Is deeply disappointed by the failure of f~~Welcomes the decision of EU Finance mMinisters to adopt ~~the much-needed~~a reform of the Code of Conduct for Business Taxation ~~on 7 December 2021, after several unsuccessful attempts; condemns Hungary and Estonia, in particular, for blocking the reform~~during their meeting of 8 November 2022;

Amendment 162 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17

Amendment 163 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17

17. ~~Is deeply disappointed by~~Acknowledges the failure of finance ministers to adopt the ~~much-needed~~ reform of the Code of Conduct for Business Taxation on 7 December 2021, after several unsuccessful attempts; ~~condemns Hungary and Estonia, in particular, for block~~draws attention to the need to find solutions in this area that can gain unanimous support ing the ~~reform~~Council;

Amendment 164 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17

Amendment 165 #

Martin HLAVÁČEK, Ondřej KOVAŘÍK

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17

17. ~~Is deeply disappoint~~Welcomes the much-awaited agreement reached byat the failure of finance ministers to adopt the much-needed reform of the Code of Conduct for Business Taxation on 7 December 2021, after several unsuccessful attempts; condemns Hungary and Estonia, in particular, for blocking the reformCouncil on November 8 to broaden the scope of the Code of Conduct for Business Taxation to 'tax features of general application'; notes that these will be regarded as harmful if they lead to double non-taxation or the multiple use of tax benefits;

Amendment 166 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17

Amendment 167 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17

Amendment 168 #

Sirpa PIETIKÄINEN

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17 a (new)

17 a. Is of the opinion that as part of the continuing discussion for the future of Europe the EU competences on taxation issues should be substantially strengthened so as to be part of the normal legislative procedure with majority votes;

Amendment 169 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18

~~18. Deplores, in particular, the Council’s lack of willingness to agree on the forthcoming transparency criterion with regard to ultimate beneficial ownership;~~deleted

Amendment 17 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital B b (new)

Bb. whereas the activities revealed in the Pandora Papers include the creation of shell companies, foundations and trusts for the following purposes: buying property, yachts, jets and life insurance anonymously, making investments and transferring money between bank accounts, avoiding taxes and committing financial crimes, including money laundering;

Amendment 170 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18

18. ~~Deplores, in particular, the Council’s lack of willingness to agree on the forthcoming transparency criterion with regard to ultimate beneficial ownership~~Notes that the EU list of non- cooperative jurisdictions could be a powerful tool for imposing the necessary high tax standards on third countries; notes, however, that the criteria remain too weak and too focused on corporate income taxation; deplores, in particular, the Council’s lack of willingness to agree on the forthcoming transparency criterion with regard to ultimate beneficial ownership; urges the Council to adapt a comprehensive reform of the EU list of non-cooperative jurisdictions in order to systematically cover countries that unfairly offer low tax rates to wealthy companies and individuals, thereby contributing to tax evasion in their countries of origin and increasing the risk of money laundering;

Amendment 171 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18

18. Deplores, in particular, the Council’s lack of willingness to agree on the forthcoming transparency criterion with regard to ultimate beneficial ownership, the concealment of which was a common feature in the schemes exposed by the Panama Papers, and was a key contributing factor to the continuation and success of such schemes;

Amendment 172 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18

18. ~~Deplores, in particular, the Council’s lack of willingness to agree~~Calls on the Council to continue the negotiations to find a common position on the forthcoming transparency criterion with regard to ultimate beneficial ownership;

Amendment 173 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18 a (new)

18a. Notes that real estate has been widely used for money laundering and tax evasion purposes, as revealed by the Pandora Papers; notes, furthermore, that real estate taxation in the EU is not at all coordinated; notes with concern the sharp increase in real estate prices in the EU and the financialisation of housing; is concerned about the potential distortive effect of real estate investment funds, which are largely based in Luxembourg; calls on the Commission to bring forward an action plan on how to improve coordination of real estate taxation in the EU and to assess the impact of low-tax regimes on the financialisation of the housing sector;

Amendment 174 #

Jonás FERNÁNDEZ, Niels FUGLSANG

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18 a (new)

18 a. Underlines that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky features prominently in the Pandora Papers; recalls that he ran his own network of offshore companies, via his television production company Kvartal 95, such as the British Virgin Islands-registered Maltex Multicapital Corporation, and keeps paying dividends to a company that belongs to Olena Zelenska; calls on the Council and the Commission to suspend all payments to Ukraine, until a thorough investigation in the Ukrainian president´s offshore companies is concluded, and all ties between these companies and the president and his family and close associates have been severed;

Amendment 175 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18 a (new)

18 a. Regrets the lack of democratic accountability in the process of elaboration of the “EU list of non- cooperative jurisdictions for tax purposes”; recalls the fact that the Council sometimes applies diplomatic or political criteria, not related to the control of tax havens, when moving countries from the “black” to the “grey list” and vice-versa, which undermines the credibility, the predictability and the usefulness of the lists; calls for a greater role of the Parliament in the preparation of the list and for an extensive revision of the screening criteria;

Amendment 176 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18 a (new)

18 a. Stresses that the Pandora Papers are a further reminder of the need to make the EU list of non-cooperative jurisdictions more effective so that it not only serves as an instrument to help EU entities and authorities to identify risky entities and take precautionary measures, but also to actively encourage and cooperate with countries to make reforms to comply with international tax standards;

Amendment 177 #

Sirpa PIETIKÄINEN

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18 a (new)

18 a. Highlights the importance of applying the 15% effective tax rate as agreed in the OECD/G20 Inclusive Framework at the EU level; urges the Council to adopt the Commission proposal for a Council directive on ensuring a global minimum level of taxation for multinational groups in the Union COM(2021) 823;

Amendment 178 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18 b (new)

18 b. Underlines that according to the Pandora Papers, the Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky and his television production partners were beneficiaries of a web of offshore firms that received 41 million USD in funds from oligarch Ihor Kolomoisky, who is accused of stealing 5.5 billion USD from his own bank and funneling it offshore; calls on the Council and the Commission to suspend all payments to Ukraine until the offshore constructions are properly mapped by European and international authorities, and the offshored money is brought back to Europe, where it can be fairly taxed;

Amendment 179 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18 b (new)

18 b. Reiterates the conclusions and recommendations of its resolution of 21 January 2021 on reforming the EU list of tax havens; calls to strengthen the EU list criteria, and to ensure greater implementation of commitments, especially for the “Fair taxation” stating that "the jurisdiction should not facilitate offshore structures or arrangements aimed at attracting profits which do not reflect real economic activity in the jurisdiction”;

Amendment 18 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital B b (new)

Bb. whereas tax havens can only be effectively combated through a policy of sanctioning aggressive jurisdictions, as demonstrated by France's blockade of Monaco in 1962;

Amendment 180 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18 c (new)

18 c. Recalls that in June 2022, a decree passed in the Ukrainian parliament implementing the anti-oligarch law signed by president Volodymyr Zelensky, introducing a legal definition of an oligarch,requiring officials to declare contacts with oligarchs, banning oligarchs from financing political parties, political ads, or demonstrations, and excluding them from the privatization of state assets; calls on the European Commission and the Council to make use of the national register of Ukrainian oligarchs to scrutinize the use of EU funds;

Amendment 181 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18 d (new)

18 d. Recalls that Ilham Aliyev, president of Azerbaijan, features prominently in the Pandora Papers; recalls that on 13 September 2022, Azerbaijan renewed hostilities in the Nagorno-Karabakh enclave and that to date, 135 Armenian soldiers have been killed; recalls that during his time in office, scores of local civil society activists have faced persecution while the country’s freedom scores have deteriorated with each presidential term; regrets therefore the decision of the European Commission of 18 July 2022, to agree with Aliyev on a strategic partnership in the field of energy, which will pour billions in the coffers of the regime in Baku;

Amendment 182 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18 e (new)

18 e. Regrets that several heads of state and heads of government feature prominently in the Pandora Papers; including presidents of EU member states who receive generous shares of the NGEU support package such as president Nicos Anastasiades of Cyprus, and heads of state and government of third countries who receive generous amounts of development aid, such as Lalla Hasnaa, Princess of Morocco, Denis Sassou Nguesso, President of the Republic of the Congo, and many others; calls on the Commission to freeze any aid to countries where top ranking officials feature in the Pandora Papers;

Amendment 183 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19

19. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Member State governments and parliaments, the Council ~~and~~, the Commission and the Financial Action Task Force.

Amendment 19 #

Niels FUGLSANG, Marek BELKA, Pedro MARQUES, Aurore LALUCQ, Joachim SCHUSTER, Jonás FERNÁNDEZ, Paul TANG

Motion for a resolution
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 2 #

Motion for a resolution
Citation 2 b (new)

— having regard to the decision of the European Ombudsman of 16 May 2022 on how the Commission the European Commission handles “revolving door” situations involving its staff members (OI/1/2021/KR),

Amendment 20 #

Bc. whereas the EU's legislative response to the Pandora Papers was weak and ministers were very late in adopting the much-needed reform of the 1997 EU code of conduct on business taxation;

Amendment 21 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital B c (new)

Bc. whereas the criteria for defining a tax haven are often based on geopolitical or commercial considerations rather than on genuine objective criteria;

Amendment 22 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital B d (new)

Bd. whereas there have been few European legislative initiatives in the area of harmful tax practices that attract high net worth individuals or luxury assets, such as yachts, private jets, works of art, etc;

Amendment 23 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1

1. Highlights the role of international investigative journalism and whistleblowers in exposing tax avoidance and evasion, corruption, organised crime and money laundering; deems it necessary to further protect the confidentiality of the sources of investigative journalism, including whistleblowers; looks forward to the Commission's report, due to be published in December 2023, on the implementation of the 2019 EU Whistleblowers Directive; calls on the Commission, in that regard, to consult stakeholders on improvements to make to the directive;

Amendment 24 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1

1. Highlights the role of international investigative journalism and whistleblowers in exposing tax avoidance and evasion, corruption, organised crime and money laundering; deems it necessary to ~~further~~ protect the confidentiality of the sources of investigative journalism, including whistleblowers; draws attention to the many cases that have recently come to light in which spyware has been used to conduct surveillance on journalists in the EU and points out that these are extremely worrying and indicative of the hypocrisy of the political elites who pursue transparency in public life;

Amendment 25 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1

1. Highlights the role of international investigative journalism and whistleblowers in exposing tax avoidance and evasion, corruption, organised crime and money laundering; ~~deems it necessary to further protect the confidentiality of the sources of investigative journalism, including whistleblower~~regrets that the obligation repeatedly falls on journalists and whistleblowers to identify and expose the loopholes in the international tax and money laundering and terrorist financing frameworks;

Amendment 26 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1

1. ~~Highlights the role of international investigative~~Recognises that journalismts and whistleblowers ~~in exposing tax avoidance and evasion, corruption, organised crime and money laundering~~have an important role in investigating and exposing potential violations of tax law; deems it necessary to further protect the confidentiality of the sources of investigative journalism, including whistleblowers;

Amendment 27 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 a (new)

1 a. Is concerned about the European Banking Authority´s (EBA) statement on financial inclusion in the context of the invasion of Ukraine (27 April 2022), clarifying the flexibility of the Anti-Money Laundering and Combating Financing of Terrorism Framework when engaging with refugees from Ukraine, for example, financial institutions can apply simplified customer due diligence in situations where the money laundering/terrorist financing (ML/TF) risk is reduced and do not need to check the prospective customer’s passport to verify their identity, and can instead rely on other documentation, such as evidence that the prospective customer is a refugee from Ukraine; underlines that EBA guidelines 4.40 to 4.44 stipulate that financial institutions should consider relevant risk factors including who their customer is when assessing ML/TF risk, and lists a number of control questions to determine customer risk factors; recalls that money laundering remains a significant problem in Ukraine, and therefore falls under the definition of ‘a country identified by credible sources as having significant levels of corruption or other criminal activity’ of Article 18(3) of Directive (EU) 2015/849, Annex III, (point 3(b)), and that in March 2014, the Council adopted sanctions against 18 Ukrainian persons identified as responsible for the misappropriation of Ukrainian State funds; notes that Ukraine scores a dismal 33 on Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index; asks therefore the EBA to review it flexibility of the AML/FT framework when engaging with Ukrainian citizens;

Amendment 28 #

Niels FUGLSANG, Pedro MARQUES, Aurore LALUCQ, Joachim SCHUSTER, Jonás FERNÁNDEZ, Paul TANG

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 a (new)

1 a. Regrets that the revelations of continuous data leaks with significant information of interest to the public still rely on whistleblowers and investigative journalists to access information; deems it necessary to protect the confidentiality of the sources of investigative journalism, including whistleblowers; stresses the importance of defending the freedom of journalists to receive confidential, secret or restricted documents, datasets or other materials, whatever their origin, and to report on those issues of public interest without the threat of costly legal action; highlights, in this regard, the Commission’s recent proposals to tackle abusive lawsuits against journalists and human rights defenders;

Amendment 29 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 a (new)

Amendment 3 #

Motion for a resolution
Citation 8 a (new)

— having regards to its resolution of 09 March 2022 on Citizenship and residence by investment schemes1a _________________ 1a OJ C 347, 9.9.2022, p. 97–109

Amendment 30 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 a (new)

1a. Stresses the very harmful role of the EU in efforts to combat tax havens, which it encourages by promoting free trade in a blanket manner, which de facto turns taxation into a form of competition;

Amendment 31 #

Niels FUGLSANG, Marek BELKA, Aurore LALUCQ, Joachim SCHUSTER, Paul TANG

Motion for a resolution
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 32 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 b (new)

1b. Stresses that while international cooperation is essential to put an end to tax evasion, states must be able to take strong measures of their own to stop it;

Amendment 33 #

Niels FUGLSANG, Marek BELKA, Pedro MARQUES, Aurore LALUCQ, Joachim SCHUSTER, Jonás FERNÁNDEZ, Paul TANG

Motion for a resolution
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 34 #

Niels FUGLSANG, Pedro MARQUES, Aurore LALUCQ, Joachim SCHUSTER, Jonás FERNÁNDEZ, Paul TANG

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2

2. Regrets th~~e fact that only 10 Member States have passed legislation to~~at 24 Member States failed to transpose and communicate the transposeition of the Whistleblowers Directive7 , 15 are still in the process of doing so, and two have taken no or minimal action; _________________ 7 Directive (EU) 2019/1937 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2019 on the protection of persons who report breaches of Union law, OJ L 305, 26.11.2019, p. 17. within the deadline; welcomes that the Commission has initiated infringement procedures against at least 19 Member States for failure to transpose the Directive6a; _________________ 6a https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscor ner/detail/en/inf_22_3768; https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscor ner/detail/en/inf_22_5402

Amendment 35 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2

2. Regrets the fact that only 10 Member States have passed legislation to transpose the Whistleblowers Directive7 , 156 are still in the process of doing so, and ~~two~~one haves taken no or minimal action; _________________ 7 Directive (EU) 2019/1937 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2019 on the protection of persons who report breaches of Union law, OJ L 305, 26.11.2019, p. 17.

Amendment 36 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2

2. RDeems it necessary to further protect the confidentiality of the sources of investigative journalism, including whistleblowers; regrets the fact that only 10 Member States have passed legislation to transpose the Whistleblowers Directive7 , 15 are still in the process of doing so, and two have taken no or minimal action; _________________ 7 Directive (EU) 2019/1937 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2019 on the protection of persons who report breaches of Union law, OJ L 305, 26.11.2019, p. 17.

Amendment 37 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2

2. Regrets the fact that only 10 Member States have passed legislation to transpose the Whistleblowers Directive7, 15 are still in the process of doing so, and two have taken no or minimal action; points out that the implementation and application of existing rules are crucial to harmonious cooperation within the EU; _________________ 7 Directive (EU) 2019/1937 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2019 on the protection of persons who report breaches of Union law, OJ L 305, 26.11.2019, p. 17.

Amendment 38 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2

2. Regrets the fact that only 10 Member States have passed legislation to transpose the Whistleblowers Directive7, 15 are still in the process of doing so, and two have taken no or minimal action; calls on the Member States that have not yet done so to urgently transpose the directive into their national law; _________________ 7 Directive (EU) 2019/1937 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2019 on the protection of persons who report breaches of Union law, OJ L 305, 26.11.2019, p. 17.

Amendment 39 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2

2. Regrets the fact that only 10 Member States have passed legislation to transpose the Whistleblowers Directive7 , 15 are still in the process of doing so, and two have taken no or minimal action; Calls on all Member States to transpose the directive into national law; _________________ 7 Directive (EU) 2019/1937 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2019 on the protection of persons who report breaches of Union law, OJ L 305, 26.11.2019, p. 17.

Amendment 4 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital A

A. whereas the Pandora Papers were a massive data leak, which the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists began publishing on 3 October 2021, documenting the beneficial owners of corporate entities established in secrecy jurisdictions; whereas the data leak reportedly concerns more than 330 politicians and public officials from almost 100 countries, including 35 current or former heads of state or government;

Amendment 40 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2 a (new)

2a. Urges the Commission to provide detailed information on the progress made by Member States in repealing or withdrawing the citizenship or residence permits of Russian or Belarusian individuals who have obtained their status through investment; calls for an EU-wide blanket ban on residence by investment schemes ('golden visas');

Amendment 41 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2 b (new)

2b. Deplores the lack of transparency from the Commission and the Members with regard to the progress made in freezing and seizing the assets of sanctioned persons; urges the Member States and the EU authorities to make a genuine effort to recover illicit money; calls on the Commission to publish a list of assets that have been frozen or confiscated following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine;

Amendment 42 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3

3. Deplores the conflicts of interest of senior staff members, including EU ministers, involving illegally obtained property, interests in fossil fuel companies or assets in tax havens revealed by the Pandora Papers and recent media investigations, including those of former Czech Prime Minister Andris Babiš and the current French Minister for Energy Transition, Agnès Pannier-Runacher; points out that the family members of politically exposed persons (PEPs), including their children, may be involved in fraud and tax evasion cases and are therefore subject to anti-money laundering and anti-terrorist financing legislation; Highlights the importance of safeguarding high standards of integrity, honesty and responsibility among public officials in the EU, including in the Member States; calls on the Member States to ensure that they have measures and systems with enough human and financial resources in place requiring public officials to declare any outside activities, employment, investments, assets and substantial gifts or benefits which may give rise to a conflict of interest with respect to their functions as public officials; highlights the importance of having systems in place to report and verify this information and independently assess conflicts of interest when they arise; stresses the need for dissuasive sanctions;

Amendment 43 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3

3. Highlights the importance of safeguarding high standards of integrity, honesty and responsibility among public officials in the EU; calls on the Member States to ensure that they have measures and systems in place requiring public officials to declare relevanyt outside activities, employment, investments, assets and substantial gifts or benefits which may give rise to a conflict of interest with respect to their functions as public officials; ~~highlights the importance of having systems in place to report and verify this information and independently assess conflicts of interest when they arise;~~

Amendment 44 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3

3. Highlights the importance of safeguarding high standards of integrity, honesty and responsibility among public officials in the EU, as well as fostering, within that environment, an ethos of service and personal honesty; calls on the Member States to ensure that they have measures and systems in place requiring public officials to declare any outside activities, employment, investments, assets and substantial gifts or benefits which may give rise to a conflict of interest with respect to their functions as public officials; highlights the importance of having systems in place to report and verify this information and independently assess conflicts of interest when they arise;

Amendment 45 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3

3. ~~Highlights the importance of safeguarding~~ Takes note of art. 12 of Regulation No 31 (EEC) whigch standards of integrity, honesty and responsibility among public officials in the EU; calls on the Member States to ensure that they have measures and systems in place requiring public officials to declare any outside activities, employment, investments, assets and substantial gifts or benefits which may give rise to aprohibits public officials in the EU from carrying any action or behaviour which might reflect adversely upon his position; calls on the Member States to ensure that they have measures and systems in place requiring public officials to report on any potential conflicts of interest with respect to their functions as public officials; highlights the importance of having systems in place to report and ~~verify this information and independently~~ follow-up on any potential cassess of conflicts of interest ~~when they arise~~;

Amendment 46 #

Paul TANG

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3 a (new)

3 a. Recalls that the revelation by Pandora Papers, Paradise Papers, Panama Papers, Suisse secrets, and OpenLux, revealed hidden assets of politically exposed persons such as Mossack Fonseca, Tony Blair, Andrej Babiš, Silvio Berlusconi, and Wopke Hoekstra. Remarks that government ministers and lawmakers have the utmost duty to uphold the law to it's fullest extent and act in line with the spirit of the law at all times. Points out that failing to do so erodes public trust in government, the very fundament of a state. Calls on political institutions to ensure that politically exposed persons rapport on all current and former financial interests and assets, as well as strong sanctions for failing to do so;

Amendment 47 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3 a (new)

3 a. Welcomes the OECD / G20 agreement from October 2021 on the reform of the international corporate tax rules; points out that Pillar II of the agreement, once implemented, will introduce a global minimum effective corporate tax rate of 15% applicable to companies with a yearly revenue above EUR 750 million which should help reduce the use of tax havens globally; reiterates its call on the Council to swiftly adopt the Pillar II Directive to ensure the agreement is effective by January 2023; urges Hungary to put an immediate end to its blockage of the global tax deal in the Council;

Amendment 48 #

Niels FUGLSANG, Marek BELKA, Pedro MARQUES, Aurore LALUCQ, Joachim SCHUSTER, Jonás FERNÁNDEZ, Paul TANG

Motion for a resolution
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 #

Marek BELKA

Motion for a resolution
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 5 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital A a (new)

Aa. whereas 2.94 terabytes of data were leaked to the ICIJ and shared with media partners around the world; whereas some of the files date back to the 1970s, but most of those reviewed by the ICIJ were created between 1996 and 2020; whereas the new data leak reportedly concerns more than 330 political figures and public officials from almost 100 countries, including 35 current or former heads of state or government;

Amendment 50 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3 b (new)

3 b. Reiterates the importance of transparency and public scrutiny for trust in the institutions; Recalls the obligation for Members of the European Parliament to disclose any "financial interests which might influence the performance of the Member's duties"1a, but regrets that this requirement lacks effective enforcement; Remarks that the assessment of potential conflicts of interest are a matter for public scrutiny and not of self-assessment; Therefore calls upon the Members of Parliament to declare any holding in any company or partnership and any other financial interest; consequently calls upon the Parliament to amend point (f) and (h) of article 4 in the code of conduct for Members of the European Parliament with respect to financial interests and conflicts of interest; _________________ 1a Code of Conduct for Members of the European Parliament with respect to financial interests and conflicts of interest, Article 4 (2) h

Amendment 51 #

Niels FUGLSANG, Marek BELKA, Pedro MARQUES, Aurore LALUCQ, Joachim SCHUSTER, Jonás FERNÁNDEZ

Motion for a resolution
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 #

Niels FUGLSANG, Marek BELKA, Alfred SANT, Pedro MARQUES, Aurore LALUCQ, Joachim SCHUSTER, Jonás FERNÁNDEZ, Paul TANG

Motion for a resolution
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 53 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4

Amendment 54 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4

Amendment 55 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4

4. Points out that the so-called big four major accountancy firms – PwC, EY, Deloitte and KPMG – account for 87 % of the global tax advisory market share8 ; _________________ 8 ‘Global tax advisory revenues top $20bn’, Accountancy Daily, 28 January 2019.Calls on the Commission to carry out a study on the tax advisory market to have up to date information on the market share of the major accountancy firms;

Amendment 56 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4

4. Points out that the so-called big four major accountancy firms – PwC, EY, Deloitte and KPMG – account for 87 % of the global tax advisory market share8; emphasises the threats that such a de facto oligopoly poses to the advisory market itself and when it comes to the potential influence that these firms’ lobbyists can wield over tax regulations; _________________ 8 ‘Global tax advisory revenues top $20bn’, Accountancy Daily, 28 January 2019.

Amendment 57 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4

4. Points out that the so-called big four major accountancy firms – PwC, EY, Deloitte and KPMG – account for 87 % of the global tax advisory market share8 ; stresses that this position in the market power gives them more influence power; _________________ 8 ‘Global tax advisory revenues top $20bn’, Accountancy Daily, 28 January 2019.

Amendment 58 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5

5. ~~Reg~~Deplorets the fact that, as exposed by the Pandora Papers9 , ~~PwC, along with other western~~western intermediary firms, had a central role in assisting Russian oligarchs with their investments in the West through their networks of offshore shell companies10 ; highlights that such networks are hindering the application of EU sanctions on Russian individuals and that there is a high likelihood that such networks are being used to shield Russian owned assets from EU sanctions; regrets the absence of visible investigations into the intermediary sector in the EU following the Pandora Papers and the EU’s sanctions on Russian oligarchs; calls on the authorities in the Member States to investigate any wrongdoing by these firms; _________________ 10 ‘How Western Firms Quietly Enabled Russian Oligarchs’, The New York Times, 9 March 2022. 9 ‘The oligarch’s accountants: How PwC helped a Russia steel baron grow his offshore empire’, International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, Pandora Papers, 11 April 2022.

Amendment 59 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5

5. Regrets the fact that, as exposed by the Pandora Papers9, PwC, along with other western firms, had a central role in assisting Russian oligarchs with their investments in the West through their networks of offshore shell companies10; regrets the absence of visible investigations into the intermediary sector in the EU following the Pandora Papers and the EU’s sanctions on Russian oligarchs; ~~call~~points onut th~~e authorities in the Member States to investigate any wrongdoing by these firms~~at, in view of Russia’s aggression against Ukraine and its hybrid actions against EU countries, investigations into the assets and investments of Russian oligarchs should be a top priority as they are strategically important for the EU’s security; _________________ 10 ‘How Western Firms Quietly Enabled Russian Oligarchs’, The New York Times, 9 March 2022. 9 ‘The oligarch’s accountants: How PwC helped a Russia steel baron grow his offshore empire’, International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, Pandora Papers, 11 April 2022.

Amendment 6 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital A a (new)

A a. whereas, according to the EU Tax Observatory, the amount of financial wealth held in tax heavens in 2017 was EUR 7 900 billion; whereas this amount is equivalent to 8 % of the world’s gross domestic product (GDP); whereas the result is a loss of tax revenue of around EUR 155 billion per year worldwide;

Amendment 60 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5

5. Regrets the fact that, as exposed by the Pandora Papers9 , ~~PwC~~some consultancy firms, along with other western firms, had a central role in assisting Russian oligarchs with their investments in the West through their networks of offshore shell companies10 ; regrets the absence of visible investigations into the intermediary sector in the EU following the Pandora Papers and the EU’s sanctions on Russian oligarchs; calls on the authorities in the Member States to investigate any wrongdoing by these firms; _________________ 10 ‘How Western Firms Quietly Enabled Russian Oligarchs’, The New York Times, 9 March 2022. 9 ‘The oligarch’s accountants: How PwC helped a Russia steel baron grow his offshore empire’, International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, Pandora Papers, 11 April 2022.

Amendment 61 #

Niels FUGLSANG, Marek BELKA, Pedro MARQUES, Joachim SCHUSTER, Jonás FERNÁNDEZ, Paul TANG

Motion for a resolution
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 firm~~GPSF before11 ; is aware of examples of tax authority officials going on to work in ~~such firms or multinational corporation~~GPSFs or MNCs immediately after; calls on ~~the~~ Member States to ~~regulate the phenomenon of~~ensure 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 62 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6

6. Points out that global professional services firms possess a capacity as ‘career hubs’, where 68 % of transfer pricing professionals in multinational corporations had worked in a global professional services firm before11 ; is aware of examplesCalls on the Commission to provide information on professional services firms and the employment of tax authority officials ~~going on to work~~ in such firms or multinational corporations ~~immediately after~~; calls on the Member States to ~~regulate~~investigate the state of play regarding the phenomenon of revolving doors, including cooling-off periods, with regard to officials in tax administrations; ~~_________________ 11 Christensen, R.C., ‘Transnational Infrastructural Power of Professional Service Firms’, SocArXiv, 9 September 2022.~~

Amendment 63 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6

6. Points out that global professional services firms possess a capacity as ‘career hubs’, where 68 % of transfer pricing professionals in multinational corporations had worked in a global professional services firm before11 ; is aware of examples of tax authority officials going on to work in such firms or multinational corporations immediately after; calls on the Member States to regulate the phenomenon of revolving doors~~, including cooling-off periods,~~ with regard to officials in tax administrations, including adopting rules to prevent revolving doors and an array of efficient enforcement mechanisms ranging from cooling-off periods, to mandatory recusal and forbidding former employees to endorse positions that are inherently at odds with the interests, independence and impartiality of the institution and the efficient enforcement of the law; _________________ 11 Christensen, R.C., ‘Transnational Infrastructural Power of Professional Service Firms’, SocArXiv, 9 September 2022.

Amendment 64 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6

6. Points out that global professional services firms possess a capacity as ‘career hubs’, where 68 % of transfer pricing professionals in multinational corporations had worked in a global professional services firm before11; is aware of examples of tax authority officials going on to work in such firms or multinational corporations immediately after; calls on the Member States to regulate the phenomenon of revolving doors, including cooling-off periods, with regard to officials in tax administrations; emphasises the extreme hypocrisy of the political elites in this area and the pressing need for the public to be made aware of this phenomenon in order for it to be stigmatised to a sufficient extent and effectively purged from public life; _________________ 11 Christensen, R.C., ‘Transnational Infrastructural Power of Professional Service Firms’, SocArXiv, 9 September 2022.

Amendment 65 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7

7. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to ~~recognise and address the~~provide further information on the potential risks of conflicts of interest stemming from the provision of legal advice, tax advice and auditing services when advising both corporate clients and public authorities; ~~reiterates its call~~calls for measures that strengthen the prohibition of advisory services including tax advice in Article 5 onf the ~~Commission to propose measures to clearly separate accountancy firms from financial~~Regulation (EU) No 537/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 April 2014 on specific requirements regarding statutory audit of public-interest entities and repealing Commission Decision 2005/909/EC. calls orn t~~ax service providers as well as all advisory service~~he Commission to develop a set of guidelines for tax professionals to mitigate these risks;

Amendment 66 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7

7. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to recognise and address the risks of conflicts of interest stemming from the provision of legal advice, tax advice and auditing services when advising both corporate clients and public authorities; ~~reiterates its~~ calls on the Commission to ~~propose measures to clearly separate accountancy firms from financial or tax service providers as well as all advisory service~~follow the recommendations of Corporate Europe Observatory by implementing measures such as not allowing big accounting companies to receive public contracts for tax-related studies and impact assessments, ending privileged access, and implementing tougher rules regarding the revolving door between tax intermediaries and the European institutions, including on secondments and internships;

Amendment 67 #

Niels FUGLSANG, Alfred SANT, Pedro MARQUES, Aurore LALUCQ, Joachim SCHUSTER, Jonás FERNÁNDEZ, Paul TANG

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7

7. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to recognise and address the risks of conflicts of interest stemming from the provision of legal advice, tax advice and auditing services when advising both corporate clients and public authorities; reiterates its call on the Commission to propose ~~measures to clearly~~the separateion of account~~ancy~~ing firms ~~from~~and financial or tax service providers as well as on all advisory services; welcomes the recently announced division of activities of one of the Big 4 major accounting firms into separate audit and advisory businesses, demonstrating that such separation is achievable11a; _________________ 11a https://www.theguardian.com/business/20 22/sep/08/ernst-young-splits-into- separate-audit-and-advisory-businesses

Amendment 68 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7

7. ~~Calls on~~Invites the Commission and the Member States to ~~recognise and~~further analyse and, where appropriate, address the potential risks of conflicts of interest stemming from the provision of legal advice, tax advice and auditing services when advising both corporate clients and public authorities; ~~reiterates its call on the Commission to propose measures to clearly separate accountancy firms from financial or tax service providers as well as all advisory services;~~

Amendment 69 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7

Amendment 7 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital B

B. whereas the Pandora Papers revealed how high-net-worth individuals, including politically exposed persons, criminals, public officials and celebrities, are assisted by intermediaries, such as banks, accountants and law firms, in designing complex corporate structures registered in secrecy jurisdictions or tax havens in close cooperation with offshore professional service providers in order to shield income and assets from taxation ~~and possibly launder money~~, sanctions and other legal obligations and to enable money laundering and terrorist financing;

Amendment 70 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7

Amendment 71 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7 a (new)

7a. Deplores the shortcomings in the current rules highlighted by the European Court of Auditors and the European Ombudsman; Urges the EU institutions, and in particular the Commission, to adopt stricter rules for officials seeking to take up posts outside the EU institutions after their service or during leave on personal grounds calls on the EU institutions to make sure that restrictions imposed on former senior staff members or staff members on leave for personal grounds are actually shared with and enforced by their new employer; calls on the EU institutions not to approve requests from former senior staff members to take up activities in the private sector when reservations exist with regard to the possibility to mitigate the potential risks deriving from the moves; calls on the international institutions financed by the Member States or the EU budget to follow the same rules as the EU institutions with regard to officials seeking to take up posts outside the institutions or during leave on personal grounds;

Amendment 72 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7 a (new)

7 a. Notes that new self-regulating instruments may appear in tax advising service industry, such as the implementation of ethics quality bar; Calls, however, on EU Member States to ensure that tax advisors are legally liable for promoting and advising on practices that violate the law, and require tax advisors to publish a detailed outline of all types of cross-border tax schemes;

Amendment 73 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7 b (new)

7b. Is concerned about the recent departure of the former OECD tax director to the private sector; Calls on the Member States and the Commission to put pressure on the OECD to introduce clear cooling-off periods and strict policies on revolving door situations;

Amendment 74 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8

8. Welcomes the fact that the Commission is preparing new legislative initiatives in the field of the regulation of intermediaries through an act securing the activity framework of enablers (SAFE) in order to tackle the role of enablers involved in facilitating tax evasion and aggressive tax planning; urges the Commission to ensure that the framework includes robust enforcement against intermediaries creating and operating schemes which enable tax evasion and aggressive tax planning as well as facilitating and contributing to the concealment of wealth and assets; in that context, urges the Commission to continue to improve information sharing amongst Member State tax administrations and cooperation on the global stage; awaits the Commission proposal without further delay;

Amendment 75 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8

8. Welcomes the fact that the Commission is preparing a new legislative ~~initiatives~~proposal in the field of the regulation of intermediaries through an act securing the activity framework of enablers (SAFE) in order to tackle the role of enablers involved in facilitating tax evasion and aggressive tax planning; ~~awaits~~looks forward receiving the Commission proposal ~~without further delay~~in due time;

Amendment 76 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8

8. ~~Welcom~~Notes the fact that the Commission is preparing new legislative initiatives in the field of the regulation of intermediaries through an act securing the activity framework of enablers (SAFE) in order to tackle the role of enablers involved in facilitating tax evasion and aggressive tax planning; ~~awaits the Commission proposal without further delay~~notes that such measures should be targeted and proportionate;

Amendment 77 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8 a (new)

8a. recommends that lawyers be added to the list of obliged entities in anti-money laundering legislation where their legal advice, including tax advice, is knowingly provided or used by the client for the purposes of money laundering, its predicate offences or terrorist financing;

Amendment 78 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9

9. Calls on the Commission to extend reporting requirements under the sixth Directive on Administrative Cooperation (DAC6)12 to cross-border arrangements for the management of assets of clients who are natural persons; _________________ 12 Council Directive (EU) 2018/822 of 25 May 2018 amending Directive 2011/16/EU as regards mandatory automatic exchange of information in the field of taxation in relation to reportable cross-border arrangements, OJ L 139, 5.6.2018, p. 1.deleted

Amendment 79 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9

9. Calls on the Commission to extend reporting requirements under the sixth Directive on Administrative Cooperation (DAC6)12 to cross-border arrangements for the management of assets of clients who are natural personsreiterates its position of Paragraph 71 on the extension of DAC reporting requirements8a; _________________ 128a Council Directive (EU) 2018/822 of 25 May 2018 amending Directive 2011/16/EU as regards mandatory automatic exchange of information in the field of taxation in relation to reportable cross-border arrangements, OJ L 139, 5.6.2018~~, p. 1.~~

Amendment 8 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital B

B. whereas the Pandora Papers revealed how high-net-worth individuals, including ~~politically exposed persons, criminals, public officials and celebritie~~criminals, public officials, celebrities and – something particularly shocking and scandalous – politically exposed persons, are assisted by intermediaries, such as banks, accountants and law firms, in designing complex corporate structures registered in secrecy jurisdictions or tax havens in close cooperation with offshore professional service providers in order to shield income and assets from taxation and possibly launder money;

Amendment 80 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9

9. Calls on the Commission to extend reporting requirements under the sixth Directive on Administrative Cooperation (DAC6)12 to cross-border arrangements for the management of assets of clients who are natural persons; calls on the Commission to present a proposal to allow information obtained by tax authorities under DAC6 to be used for criminal investigation and prosecution purposes; _________________ 12 Council Directive (EU) 2018/822 of 25 May 2018 amending Directive 2011/16/EU as regards mandatory automatic exchange of information in the field of taxation in relation to reportable cross-border arrangements, OJ L 139, 5.6.2018, p. 1.

Amendment 81 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9

9. Calls on the Commission to extend reporting requirements under the sixth Directive on Administrative Cooperation (DAC6)12 to cross-border arrangements for the management of assets of clients who are natural persons; emphasises that because taxation remains a matter for the Member States, honest and fair cooperation among national tax authorities is crucial to ensuring that the tax system within the EU is watertight; _________________ 12 Council Directive (EU) 2018/822 of 25 May 2018 amending Directive 2011/16/EU as regards mandatory automatic exchange of information in the field of taxation in relation to reportable cross-border arrangements, OJ L 139, 5.6.2018, p. 1.

Amendment 82 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9 a (new)

9a. Notes with concern that the latest results of the peer review of the Global Forum on the legal implementation of the Standard for Automatic Exchange of Financial Account Information (CRS) and, for the first time, the results of the first reviews of the effectiveness of the practical implementation of CRS indicate that not all Member States are fully compliant or on track; notes that the following Member States are not delivering the expected results: Belgium, Poland, Latvia, Estonia, Hungary, Malta, France, Romania and Croatia; calls on the Commission to monitor the Member States closely and to launch infringement procedures until all Member States are fully compliant;

Amendment 83 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9 a (new)

9 a. Welcomes that with the Directive on Administrative Cooperation a mandatory disclosure regime for certain cross-border tax arrangements has already been introduced; notes that more than a full year of reporting is completed; calls on the European Commission to analyse the depth and breadth of the reporting and identify possible shortcomings; calls on the Commission to keep the European Parliament informed about its findings;

Amendment 84 #

Motion for a resolution
Subheading 3

Harmful practices and ~~competition in the area of personal income and wealth taxa~~legitimate tax competition

Amendment 85 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10

10. ~~Highlights~~Takes note of the fact that, as the Pandora Papers have exposed, schemes to shield the assets of high-net-worth individuals from state authorities through corporate offshore services have become highly sophisticated ~~and ever more common~~;

Amendment 86 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10

10. Highlights the fact that, as the Pandora Papers have exposed, schemes to shield the assets of high-net-worth individuals from state authorities through corporate offshore services have become highly sophisticated and ever more common; draws attention to the impact of new technologies (e.g. crypto-assets), which create new challenges in the area of tax avoidance and money laundering, for which new, appropriate and precise regulations may be needed;

Amendment 87 #

Niels FUGLSANG, Marek BELKA, Pedro MARQUES, Aurore LALUCQ, Joachim SCHUSTER, Jonás FERNÁNDEZ, Paul TANG

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10 a (new)

10 a. Regrets that base erosion is facilitated by the lack of withholding taxes on outbound dividends, royalties and interest to third countries and the absence of common rules and procedures that ensure an effective taxation of such intra- EU flows; recalls that recent research13a shows drastic differences in the application of withholding taxes in Member States – the rates can vary between 0 % and 35 % – and points to the fact that withholding tax rates in bilateral tax treaties are often lower than the standard rates; Calls on the Commission and the Member States to coordinate a withholding tax framework that ensures all dividend, interest and royalties are taxed at a minimum effective tax rate; _________________ 13a Van ’t Riet, M. and Lejour, A.,‘A Common Withholding Tax On Dividend, Interest And Royalties In The European Union’, 2020.

Amendment 88 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10 a (new)

10 a. Remarks that revelations showed how wealthy individuals paid little to no taxes by changing their country of tax residency and reallocating capital across borders. Illustrating detrimental effects of high wealth mobility and wealth elasticity to taxation. Concludes that through these action wealthy individuals leave the bill for public goods on the table for the general public. Therefore calls to introduce an EU border exit tax on individual wealth compatible with the economic freedoms of the Union;

Amendment 89 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10 a (new)

10a. Calls for countries on the EU list of non-cooperative jurisdictions for tax purposes to be automatically included on the EU’s anti-money laundering list of ‘high-risk’ third countries;

Amendment 9 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital B

B. whereas the Pandora Papers revealed how high-net-worth individuals, including politically exposed persons, criminals, public officials and celebrities, are assisted by intermediaries~~, such as banks, accountants and law firms,~~ in designing complex corporate structures registered in secrecy jurisdictions or tax havens in close cooperation with offshore professional service providers in order to shield income and assets from taxation and possibly launder money;

Amendment 90 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10 b (new)

10 b. Points out that the dividend stripping scandals cum-ex and cum-cum were one of the largest tax fraud scandals in EU history, which costed EU Member states 140 billion euros. Stresses that an EU harmonised withholding tax system will prevent tax fraud, double taxation and double non-taxation. Therefore reiterates the need for a common withholding tax system;

Amendment 91 #

Niels FUGLSANG, Marek BELKA, Aurore LALUCQ, Joachim SCHUSTER, Jonás FERNÁNDEZ, Paul TANG

Motion for a resolution
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 92 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11

Amendment 93 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11

Amendment 94 #

Motion for a resolution
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; considers that these realities must be evaluated on the basis of their respect for the EU competition legal framework;

Amendment 95 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11

11. Observes, in parallel, a growing trend for countries, ~~and~~including 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;

Amendment 96 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11 a (new)

11a. Warns against the impact of teleworking on personal income tax and tax residence in the EU; calls on the Commission to take the necessary legislative measures to harmonise or better coordinate the tax residence of individuals and self-employed persons in the EU and the cross-border implications of personal income tax; notes that personal income tax is the biggest source of tax revenue for most EU Member States;

Amendment 97 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11 a (new)

11 a. Highlights, furthermore, that Member States should be entitled to fight back tax avoidance practices by implementing countermeasures such as non-deductibility or limited deductibility of costs (interests, royalties and services payments),withholding measures, limitation of participation exemption or special documentation requirements;

Amendment 98 #

Niels FUGLSANG, Marek BELKA, Aurore LALUCQ, Joachim SCHUSTER, Jonás FERNÁNDEZ, Paul TANG

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11 a (new)

11 a. Is particularly concerned by the seeming short-term increase of US$14 billion in cross-border deposits held in countries offering citizenship/residence by investment schemes, suggesting the use of these schemes as regulatory arbitrage to circumvent the disclosure mandated under DAC615a; _________________ 15a Elisa Casi, Mohammed Mardan, Rohit Reddy Muddasani, “So close and yet so far: the ability of mandatory disclosure rules to crack down on offshore tax evasion”, https://www.wider.unu.edu/publication/so -close-and-yet-so-far-ability-mandatory- disclosure-rules-crack-down-offshore-tax

Amendment 99 #