Tax and financial havens

Key points:

• The European Union must step up its action within the G-20, the OECD and the FATF (Financial Action Task Force) to eradicate opaque tax jurisdictions and to compel Member States to combat the crime originating in many of these jurisdictions.
• The EESC calls on the Union's institutions to adopt measures to prevent abuse of the principle of "residence" by means of ownership arrangements and fictitious residency, whereby holding companies not actively engaged in business, or bogus companies, allow the owners to avoid paying taxes in their country of domicile.
• The EESC hopes to see a strategy coordinated with the leading countries to step up the fight against tax evasion and to adopt an approach to regulating this area that is as global as possible. At the same time, however, the EESC emphasises that the difficulty of establishing an agreed international plan of action must under no circumstances slow down or delay action by the European Union.

For more information please contact the INT Section Secretariat