To help the EU to financially recover from the Covid-19 pandemic, the European Parliament’s new tax committee will look to tax “the richest and the big corporations”.
Currently, some of the biggest corporations in the EU are avoiding between €50 billion and €190 billion in taxes each year, according to the European Parliament's new subcommittee on tax matters, FISC.
“Governments are now – rightly – spending billions to save lives and livelihoods,” Chair of the FISC committee Paul Tang said. “But the debts incurred will have to be repaid.”
“After the last crisis, we made the double mistake of austerity and increased taxes on the middle class. Only the richest remained out of shot. This time will have to be different.”
“By looking at ways to tax those that are not paying their fair share – the richest and the big corporations – we can get out of this crisis in a fair way and maintain the trust of our citizens.”
Taxes will be implemented on pollution, which will contribute to two of the EU’s goals simultaneously: helping the economy to recover from the pandemic, and making the EU more sustainable in the future.
FISC will also work to put “pressure” on Member States that are known to function as tax havens, the existence of which can cost other the governments of fellow Member States up to €40 billion in taxes per year.
The tax havens, which allow big corporations to avoid having to pay taxes due to often lenient legislation, will be urged to reform their tax systems.
Amée Zoutberg
The Brussels Times
