On Monday evening, 16 December, the European Parliament asked the European Commission about the ongoing OECD negotiations on international tax reform. The European Commissioner for Taxation, Paolo Gentiloni took this opportunity to reaffirm his commitment to find an international solution, despite difficult negotiations (see EUROPE 12385/7).
"Our aim is to negotiate the best possible outcomes for the Member States and for the EU", the Commissioner assured MEPs.
"The preliminary results of our economic analysis on revenues are until now encouraging. They suggest that the EU as a whole could benefit under Pillar I and that all Member States would benefit from Pillar II. The Commission has now asked Member States to provide their country by country reporting data, to be able to further refine the economic analysis", he said.
But if the Commission remains committed to an international solution, that does not mean that it does not have other "alternatives", he warned. "If no, or limited agreement, is reached internationally by 2020, it is crystal clear that the strong rationale for EU action at EU level will remain and that the Commission will act on this basis", he said.
Following this debate, on Wednesday, the European Parliament will adopt a resolution calling for ambitious international tax reform. The text also encourages countries to agree on a minimum effective corporate tax rate that is "fair and sufficient to discourage profit transfers and prevent harmful tax competition", explained Irene Tinagli (S&D, Italy), Chair of the ECON committee that drafted the resolution.
And it is on this point that several amendments were tabled to the text adopted in the ECON Committee on last 3 December (see EUROPE 12382/15). The S&D group wants a reference to a minimum effective rate of 18%, while the Greens/EFA are in favour of a rate of 20% and the GUE/NGL advocates a rate of 25%. (Original version in French by Marion Fontana)