EU leads ‘determined’ but ‘largely ineffective’ fight

"Very determined" but "largely ineffective": in the wake of the publication of a report commissioned by the socialist group in the European parliament in 2012 and coordinated by UK Tax Research Director Richard Murphy, El Mundo looks at the figures delivered by the EU drive to combat tax fraud and and close tax avoidance loopholes. According to the report, capital flight, the black economy and various corporate manouevres to avoid tax continue to cost EU countries €1trn in lost revenue every year. In the current context, reports El Mundo —

the drive to combat tax evasion has become a priority for the European Union, now that the crisis has drawn attention to diminishing state revenues.

In response to a European Council request for an “Action plan” submitted in March 2012, last month the Commission announced a series of recommendations, which as El Mundo points out are non-obligatory, for greater cooperation between the EU’s 27 member states. In the meantime, and in spite of the EU’s limited powers in the fight to combat tax fraud, some positive results have begun to emerge, concludes the daily —

The most significant success has been the signing of bilateral agreements on the exchange of tax information between the EU, Saint Marino, Liechtenstein, Monaco and Switzerland, which apply in all EU member states.[...] The sums recovered thanks to these agreements have increased 11-fold over the past seven years. Better still, starting on January 1, 2013, a new regulation has come into force to prevent countries from citing banking secrecy as a reason for refusing to comply with a request from a member state for tax information on one of its citizens.

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