EU lawmakers step up pressure to tackle tax dodging
By Foo Yun Chee
BRUSSELS - EU lawmakers on Wednesday added to the pressure on governments in the bloc to clamp down on tax avoidance, saying multi-national companies should pay taxes in the countries where they make their profits instead of shifting them to low-tax havens.
The European Parliament also urged EU member states to adopt mandatory country-by-country reporting for cross-border companies and agree to a common method to calculate taxes.
The non-binding recommendations, from a committee set up in February to look into tax dodging, were passed by 508 votes to 108, with 85 abstentions.
The lawmakers' proposal follows public anger against tax deals that helped hundreds of multi-nationals slash their tax bills to paltry sums. The Group of 20 major economies last month backed measures to tackle tax-dodging, but it was not clear if countries will implement them.
The European Commission last month told the Dutch government to recover up to 30 million euros (£21 million) in back taxes from U.S. coffee chain Starbucks and issued the same order to Luxembourg over Fiat Chrysler Automobiles .
EU countries have in the past resisted any move against their tax regimes on the grounds that these are sovereign issues.
Lawmakers, however, said it was time to have a level playing field.
"We can't leave corporate taxes in a framework that allows member states to compete in order to attract multi-nationals and make a business out of this," lawmaker and co-author of the report Elisa Ferreira said in a statement.
Other recommendations include better protection for whistle-blowers and more transparency in national tax rulings.
(Editing by Mark Potter)
