tax

Today, the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, proposed the introduction of a cap on revenues of companies producing electricity with low costs and a solidarity contribution from fossil fuel companies. The revenues from these unexpected profits will be directed to people and businesses to help them adapt to the recent increase in energy prices as well as to invest in clean home-grown energy sources.

Today, the European Commission proposed that EU countries tax windfall profits made by energy companies. This one-off tax would capture the excess profits made during the recent spike in gas prices. 

Europe’s General Court ruled that Amazon did not profit from illegal state aid in Luxembourg. This ruling dates back to a 2017 European Commission decision which stated that Amazon benefited from an illegal tax deal with Luxembourg and had to repay €250 million in unpaid taxes to the Grand Duchy. Amazon and Luxembourg have appealed this decision. The verdict follows last year’s defeat for the Commission in its high-profile case against Apple and Ireland.  

Oxfam today gave a cautious welcome to the OECD's plans to open up its tax reform process to developing countries but said more fundamental global tax reforms, beyond BEPS, are still needed to stop corporate tax scandals. 

West African governments are planning to “slash and burn” their way out of COVID-19 induced economic loss, reveals new analysis from Oxfam and Development Finance International (DFI) today. The organizations are calling for an urgent change of course as West African governments are preparing their annual budgets and participating in the Annual Meetings of the World Bank and IMF, which are crucial discussions to focus the recovery on fighting inequality and poverty.

A one-off 99 percent levy on billionaires’ wealth gains during the pandemic could pay for everyone on Earth to be vaccinated against COVID-19 and provide a $20,000 cash grant to all unemployed workers, according to new analysis released today by Oxfam, the Fight Inequality Alliance, the Institute for Policy Studies and the Patriotic Millionaires.

Today, the European Commission published their “Communication on business taxation for the 21st century”. The plan takes steps to ensure fair and effective taxation, to simplify tax rules for companies and to establish a longer-term business taxation framework.

Tomorrow, Oxfam is hosting a panel event on the EU and the fight against tax havens. The event brings together critical voices directly engaged in the current review process of the EU list of tax havens (EU governments, European Parliament and European Commission) and civil society (activists and journalists) whose work has helped to break the opacity of corporate structures and showcase the impact of tax havens in our societies.   

Tomorrow, Tuesday 16 February, European Union finance ministers will review the EU tax havens list, officially known as the EU list of non-cooperative jurisdictions for tax purposes. This is an assessment of non-EU countries according to the current blacklist criteria. This process started in 2017 and takes place twice a year. Currently, 12 countries are blacklisted and 10 are ‘grey-listed’.  

The weak EU tax haven blacklist is undermining attempts to stop government bailouts going to corporate tax dodgers, said Oxfam, ahead of the publication of a revised EU blacklist tomorrow, 6 October.