The EU should name Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Ireland and Malta as tax havens

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This amendment to the EU tax haven black list has been tabled in the EU parliament by the Socialists and Democrats Group (of which Labour is a member):

Peter Simon
on behalf of the S&D Group
Motion for a resolution
25 a(new)

Motion for a resolution

Considering that according to the most recent OECD data on foreign direct investment, Luxemburg and the Netherlands together have more inward investment than the United States, and that the vast majority of these investments are in special purpose entities with no substantial economic activity, and that Ireland had more inward investment than either Germany or France; considering that according to its National Statistics Office foreign investments in Malta account to 1474% of the size of its economy; considering that of all corporate investments ending up in tax havens a total of 23% passed through the Netherlands according to research of the University of Amsterdam; considering that these data provide clear indication that EU member states are facilitating excessive profit shifting activities, which comes at the expense of other European member states; calls therefore on the European Commission to regard Luxemburg, the Netherlands, Ireland and Malta as EU tax havens;

I support the call. Whilst it would be exceptionally difficult to brand the UK a tax haven (although the likelihood that the Crown Dependencies and many Overseas Territories will be is high) these places all deserve that status in their own right and it is good to see some politicians that are willing to stand up and say so.


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