ECON III


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Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs III (ECON III):

Off-shore tax havens within and outside Europe: how can Europe jointly address the criminal avoidance of taxes while respecting the citizens’ right to privacy and foreign states’ sovereignty?

Committee Article

Above all else it should be noted that this topic focuses on the criminal aspects of tax avoidance and evasion, something which costs the EU around 1 trillion Euros every year. Huge scandals in France and other Member States have brought this topic into the public sphere whilst pressure from the USA through FACTA (Foreign Accounts Tax compliance Act) has made it important that Europe acts now. It is vital that Europe jointly address this problem, something that has not yet been the case. Whilst the EU have criticised Austrian bank secrecy the latter has turned on Britain and pressurised them into agreeing to provide details from their overseas territories. Algirdas Semeta’s (EU Commissioner on Taxation) proposal for automatic exchanges of tax information across the EU is one potential solution but the committee must consider other solutions to this global problem.

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