Topic: A year after LuxLeaks, it is high time for EU action on corporate tax-dodging (Read 456 times)

These tax-dodging problems are never going to be resolved as long as there are a disparity between the tax rates of the various nations. If there is a nation with a lower tax burden than other nations then businesses are bound to make use of this by moving all or some of their operations to such a country and or find some or other loophole to use in such a case.

I think the complexity of the various tax laws/codes are also partially to blame for this as countries just make their tax laws more and more complicated in their efforts to close all loopholes and by doing so just open new ones. A simple straight forward and fair tax system in each nation will already go a long way to resolve many of the issues at hand. The more complicated they make it the more people/corporations will shy away from dealing with it and or the more money people will throw at it to make it go away.

Another issue is the fairness of the taxes being levied. I honestly believe that most corporations will be more than happy to settle their taxes in full without trying to dodge them if the rates payable were fair but in some nations the rates being levied are at best akin to daylight robbery. If you are going to try and take more than half of a persons/corporations income away in taxes then you can honestly not blame them for looking for alternatives.

This is money that countries would have used to pay hookers for government ministers, turn children into socialist puppets, promote homosexuality, build mosques, give tax breaks to oil companies, build lavish houses and buy fast cars for police officials and high-ranking civil servants... This is what governments do.

They can get rid of income tax all together and rely on import, sales, property taxes. Also balance the budget.

^ or go to the root of the problem. Change the way companies work. Turn them to cooperatives or something like germany does. Have workers represented in board meetings and affect decisions. That solves a lot of the problems including that one, inequality, outsourcing work, disconnect between companies and communities where they are, etc.

One year ago, the LuxLeaks scandal revealed publicly the content of tax rulings issued by Luxembourg to more than 340 multinationals between 2002 and 2010. These secret deals from Luxembourg allowed many of these companies to slash their global tax bills. Some firms enjoyed effective tax rates of less than 1%.

This was further proof that European countries are competing with each other by offering a variety of creative tax measures, thus depriving other countries of important parts of their due tax revenues – and lowering total tax revenues across the whole of Europe. This is money that countries could have used for public services, healthcare or schools.

One year has passed and still no ambitious measures at European level have been agreed upon. Across Europe, governments are failing their citizens, who suffer from weaker public services and higher taxes on labour, consumption and income, and their SMEs, which cannot, like many multinationals, hire expensive tax firms and artificially design their businesses in order to lower their tax rates and, as a consequence, face unfair competition.

Strong and effective action is urgently needed; business as usual is not an option. The European Union should ensure that multinationals pay their taxes where they make their profits. We strongly advocate for ambitious reforms to clamp down on tax fraud, close legal loopholes, effectively sanction tax havens, fight corruption and money-laundering, and improve transparency and cross-border cooperation.

Read more: http://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/nov/04/a-year-after-luxleaks-it-is-high-time-for-eu-action-on-corporate-tax-dodging