Despite the hullaballoo in main stream media about Queen Elizabeth’s investments in tax-havens and the implication of the US Trade Secretary Wilbur Ross in a Russia related offshore firm, the shocking revelation in the Paradise Papers is that London appears as the largest money washing machine of the world. The biggest single disclosure is that […]A neo-liberal toll free Paradise for the super rich and tax hell for wage earners
November 9, 2017 by 2 Comments
Despite the hullaballoo in main stream media about Queen Elizabeth’s investments in tax-havens and the implication of the US Trade Secretary Wilbur Ross in a Russia related offshore firm, the shocking revelation in the Paradise Papers is that London appears as the largest money washing machine of the world. The biggest single disclosure is that […]Deutsche Bank again in the middle of the US-EU economic skirmishes
September 22, 2016 by Leave a Comment
The US government is reacting in many ways against the fine in back taxes of €13 billion which the European Commission imposed on Apple. Firstly, Jack Lew, the American Secretary of the Treasury, accused the EU of grabbing tax incomes which belong to the US. On 31st August he said, “What’s not appropriate is for, […]Are the G20 leaders ready to curb corporate tax-avoidance?
September 8, 2016 by Leave a Comment
Last Monday, the G20 meeting in Hangzhou – the capital of China’s eastern Zhejiang province – the first gathering of the 20 world leaders to be held in the vast country, was not marked by the determination to face up to economic misery and the pitiless wars in Syria, Libya, South Soudan, Yemen, Mali and […]The representatives of the regions and the cities know better what the EU needs on migration, trade, poverty and taxation
December 14, 2015 by Leave a Comment
The 115th plenary of the European Committee of the Regions (CoR) was convened on 3 and 4 December and discussed a number of burning issues, which have been haunting the European Union during the last difficult years. The CoR is the voice of regions and cities of the European Union. Its 350 members are the […]The EU Parliament blasts the Council about the tax dealings of the wealthy
October 15, 2015 by Leave a Comment
The European Parliament once more honored its role as the authentic exponent of the will of the European citizens. Last Tuesday it dismissed as a “missed opportunity” the EU Council’s decision to water down the mandatory exchange of the ‘tax rulings’ between member states. A ‘tax ruling’ is a special taxation arrangement accorded to a […]The EU to fight cross-border tax evasion with a toothless directive
October 8, 2015 by Leave a Comment
On Tuesday 6 October the powerful Economic and Financial Affairs Council of the European Union, the well know ECOFIN group, took a decision advertised to be monumental. For the first time ever the 28 EU countries agreed to shed some light on the ‘tax rulings’, as well as at the ‘advance pricing arrangements’. These are […]The Commission unsuccessfully pretends to want curbing of tax evasion
November 26, 2013 by Leave a Comment
The European Commission, after having facilitated for decades the tax avoidance and evasion practices of multinationals with the ‘Parent-Subsidiary Directive’, yesterday decided to just reduce the size of the extra-large loop holes the big multinationals use for years to avoid and evade taxation. With a Press release issued yesterday, the Commission almost recognised that it […]Is it true that the G20 wants to arrest tax evasion of multinationals?
July 22, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Last Saturday the ministers of Finance of the G20 council agreed in Moscow to tackle global tax evasion by adopting a 15-point OECD Action Plan, which supposedly will give governments the domestic and international arms they need to combat tax Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS). The responsible European Commissioner for tax issues Algirdas Šemeta […]Tax evasion and fraud threaten the European project
May 8, 2013 by 23 Comments
Tax evasion and avoidance has been a perennial issue from the moment taxation was invented. Presently the European Commission estimates that in the EU of 27 member states, tax avoidance and fraud runs up to €1 trillion yearly, more than enough to foot the bill of government deficits that plague the EU economy and have […]
