Promoting Good Governance in Tax Matters

Key points:

The EESC

• is in full agreement with the series of measures proposed and with the Commission's comments.
• hopes that the EU will adopt a firm attitude: an end should be put to the policy of unconditional aid to many countries with nothing in return as regards cooperation in tax matters.

The EESC takes this opportunity to consider other, closely linked, subjects:

• the money-laundering directive should exclude tax-related or financial offences where these are not of criminal or terrorist origin; conversely, the tax directives should exclude from the competence of tax authorities any offences that have a clear criminal or terrorist background.

• blame for this also lies with a fragmentation of powers and competences between the Justice and Home Affairs Council.

• flags of convenience, a source of considerable financial flows that are perfectly legal even if they are spared from taxation, are a difficult issue.

• when combating tax havens, it will be important to avoid unintended effects on legitimate activities and the diversion of capital to less cooperative centres.