“Make sure everyone pays their fair share of taxes.” This sentence is repeated in almost all the strategic programmes and priorities of European political parties in the lead up to the European elections, which will be held at the end of the month.
At a time when “yellow vests” are being mobilised in France, when there is an increased mobilisation in favour of “green” taxation in the European Union and after a mandate punctuated by the LuxLeaks, Panama Papers and Bahamas Leaks scandals, it is difficult for European parties to avoid the subject of the fight against tax fraud and evasion at EU level.
“We have fought hard in the European Parliament for more tax justice. We will continue to crack down on tax havens, tax evasion, tax avoidance and money laundering”, assures, for example, the European Green Party (EGP) in its election manifesto. The Party of the European Left, on the other hand, advocates “zero tolerance” and wants to see all tax havens permanently closed.
The Party of European Socialists (PES) wants to consolidate the European blacklist of non-cooperative jurisdictions from a tax standpoint (see EUROPE 12212/5) and impose sanctions on fraudsters, but also on companies and individuals who help them to design the best tax arrangements.
In particular, it calls for a global response, through the creation of an international organization, if necessary under the aegis of the United Nations, to promote social and fiscal equity on a global scale.
But European political parties also want to relaunch several legislative proposals on tax matters, which have been affected by the unanimous voting rule in the EU Council.
This is particularly the case for digital taxation in the EU (see EUROPE 12212/6), requested by the PES, PGE and the European People's Party (EPP), so that Internet giants also pay their fair share of taxes.
The PES, the PGE and the Party of the European Left also want to relaunch the Financial Transaction Tax (FTT), a project under way since 2011 (see EUROPE 12151/2).
“Taxation of financial transactions would help to curb financial speculation and guarantee that stock markets pay their fair share to society”, says the PES. For the Greens, the FTT would also help to finance sustainable investments.
More tax harmonization is also what the PES and the PGE want, with the adoption, at last, of the common consolidated corporate tax base (‘CCCTB’). We also find with environmentalists and the Party of the European Left the idea of a minimum corporate tax rate.
Transparency. In terms of transparency, here again, there seems to be a consensus and European political families generally want the legislative proposal on tax transparency country by country reporting, which would obligate companies to make certain accounting data public such as their turnover, profits and taxes paid. This text is blocked in the EU Council (see EUROPE 12175/4).
The EGP and the PES want to strengthen the accountability of multinational companies to publicly account for where they pay taxes. To facilitate this process, the PES also proposes the establishment of a single European system for calculating corporate taxable income. The Party of the European Left, on the other hand, wants a “total transparency obligation” in the strategies of large companies operating in Europe.
Durability. For the Greens, taxation can also be a “powerful tool for fairness and sustainability”. Their party is thus advocating an ecological tax reform that aims to “tax more what we want less of”, such as the use of polluting energies, “tax less what we want more of”, particularly employment.
In particular, the EGP supports the increase in taxes on fossil fuels by Member States and the introduction of environmental taxes at European level, for example on flights and plastics.
The Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) is silent - at least in its manifesto - on the subject of taxation.
On the side of the Alliance of Conservatives and Reformists in Europe (ACRE), the tone is radically different. “The common market must not be used as a pretext for creating additional regulation such as attempts to harmonize taxes”, says the conservative European party, which believes that economic prosperity also comes from tax competition. (Original version in French by Marion Fontana)