MOSCOW, November 6 (RIA Novosti) — EU finance ministers should immediately review tax rules so that multinationals pay the requisite amount of tax, Transparency International stated Thursday.
"EU finance ministers should commit to an immediate review of tax rules to ensure that publicly-listed multinational companies pay their fair share of taxes in every country they operate in," the watchdog urged in a press release.
"At their meeting in Brussels tomorrow, EU finance ministers should look into tax disclosure rules for European companies also known as country-by-country reporting rules," the press release added.
The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) issued a report on Wednesday in which it disclosed that around 340 international companies had entered into secret agreements with Luxembourg to reduce the amount of tax they need to pay globally.
"We all have a right to know how much tax companies pay to EU governments. EU Ministers must now take action to end the secrecy of corporate tax deals in Europe. The Luxleaks deals could not have been kept secret if all companies were required to report details of their tax payments in every country where they operate," Head of Transparency International's EU office in Brussels Carl Dolan said in the statement.
The watchdog noted that the leaked documents that ICIJ obtained may only be the surface of a much wider global tax evasion scheme.
