LuxLeaks

The European Parliament is right to call out EU governments for their failure to agree the reforms needed to tackle large-scale tax avoidance, said Oxfam in reaction to a key vote on tax in the European Parliament.

A Luxembourg court today overturned the previous guilty verdict imposed on whistleblower Antoine Deltour, who exposed secret deals that enabled multinational companies to avoid paying billions of dollars in tax. Welcoming the decision, Oxfam said whistleblowers are not criminals and governments should do more to implement tax transparency.

The European Commission has today opened a state aid probe into the tax affairs of furniture giant Ikea with the Netherlands. This new case shows Europe still has to put its own house in order when it comes to ending tax havens within the EU.

Today the European Parliament adopted the report by its Panama Papers inquiry committee and voted in favor of recommendations aimed at stopping corporate tax avoidance across the European Union. Oxfam welcomes the Parliament's call for EU member states to adopt the reforms needed to end corporate tax abuses.

The upcoming EU tax haven blacklist has to include at least 35 countries, including notorious tax havens such as Switzerland and Bermuda, in order to be effective, Oxfam finds in a new report published today. The analysis also shows that at least 4 EU countries would be blacklisted if the EU were to apply its own criteria to member states.

Responding to the verdict in the retrial of the LuxLeaks whistleblowers, Max Lawson, Oxfam’s Inequality Policy Lead said: “Whistleblowers who expose tax dodging should be praised, not punished."  

Since 2014, a huge number of documents have revealed how powerful corporations and super-rich individuals are exploiting a rigged global system that allows them to avoid paying their fair share of tax. And it’s the world’s poorest people who pay the price. Add your voice and join the fight against tax havens.

Oxfam welcomes today’s decision by the European Commission that Fiat and Starbucks were receiving unfair state aid.