S&D Euro MPs today welcome the repeated commitments of the president of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker and commissioner Pierre Moscovici to end the aggressive tax practices existing in the EU, during a special hearing in the European Parliament.
S&D Group spokesperson on the special TAXE committee Peter Simon said:
"Today's hearing shows that the work of the special TAXE Committee is yielding tangible results. Jean-Claude Juncker, the President of the Commission, admitted today that the current system of tax optimization by multinational companies is unfair and that a comprehensive legal framework for fair corporate taxation in Europe has to be established. This is in line with the demands of the Social Democrats."
"Both the report of the Special Committee and the legislative report of the EP's Economic Affairs Committee provide suggestions for a comprehensive package against aggressive tax planning to the European Commission. It must be our goal to make companies pay taxes in the country where they make profits."
"There will also be consequences to the refusal of a number of multinational companies to appear in front of the Special Committee. Such outright disregard for an appointed Parliamentary Committee must lead to a reaction. The likes of Amazon, Facebook, Google, Ikea, Phillip Morris and McDonald's should see their permanent access badge to the European Parliament withdrawn, until they change their behaviour. Those who have no respect for the public interest are blatantly unfit to enter the European Parliament as lobbyists."
S&D Euro MP and European parliament’s co-rapporteur of the special TAXE committee Elisa Ferreira added:
“Following today’s hearing of Jean-Claude Juncker in the European Parliament, the political and personal credibility of the president of the European Commission, on which we, S&D, based our support, has not been undermined."
“However, the European Commission must be more ambitious in the measures to end tax injustice. It is no longer acceptable that SMEs and individual citizens are burdened with tax while multinationals pay ridiculously small amounts."
“We also call on the European Commission to give us access to the documents which would help us understand who is blocking progress in the tax field in the EU. We need to end the secrecy that has allowed the present tax jungle to develop."
Labour Euro MP Anneliese Dodds concluded:
"Time and time again, throughout the hearings of this Committee, we keep coming back to a simple point: the need for much more transparency when it comes to tax. That means more transparency from the Commission and Member States, sharing key documents with our Committee that we have asked for on numerous occasions now. And it means transparency more widely: from companies reporting on the profits they make and the taxes they pay, country by country; to a clear and agreed definition of what exactly constitutes a 'tax haven'.
"In the year since LuxLeaks first broke, we have seen what happens when there is too much secrecy and not enough transparency. Member States participate in harmful tax competition by coming up with private tax deals that undercut their neighbours' tax base."
“Some giant multinational companies shift their profits around in complex and opaque structures, while more and more of the tax burden falls on SMEs. This cannot go on. That's why today S&D MEPs clearly called for the Commission, the Member States and businesses themselves all to be more transparent when it comes to tax."
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