European Parliament votes new tax transparency rules for corporations, but with a loophole

Last June 12 two committees of the European Parliament voted on new tax transparency requirements for multinational corporations. While the outcome would strengthen the text proposed by the European Commission, a proposal by the Liberals and Conservatives introduced a dangerous loophole. The issue will now be sent to the plenary of the European Parliament for a final decision. 

"Until now, the European Parliament has been in favour of letting the public know what multinational corporations pay in taxes and where they do business,” said Tove Maria Ryding, Tax Coordinator at Eurodad, the European Network on Debt and Development. “But tonight, at the expense of the rest of society, the Liberals and Conservatives decided to protect large multinational tax cheats by introducing a loophole, through which they can continue dodging taxes.

“Public country by country reporting would be an important step towards ensuring that multinational corporations pay their share of taxes - both in Europe and in the world's poorest countries. Failing to stop large-scale corporate tax dodging doesn't only mean that we lose funding for public services around the world. It also disadvantages all the small and medium enterprises, which struggle to compete with large multinational corporations that are not paying taxes,” said Ryding. 

“We call on the European parliamentarians to fix the loophole in this important piece of legislation, when the issue comes to a vote in the plenary.”

By Tove Ryding.

Source: Eurodad.