On Tuesday, the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) revealed a second cache of confidential documents on companies that signed secret deals with Luxembourg allowing them to pay reduced taxes between 2002 and 2010. The companies include the Walt Disney Company and the internet calling business Skype, currently owned by Microsoft.
Tax loopholes be gone: The #EU is bound to act on new #LuxLeaks details: http://t.co/uQsHHza1HG pic.twitter.com/BmjXvUkbx3
— DW (English) (@dw_english) 10 декабря 2014
"By continuing to do pretty much nothing, European leaders seem content to allow billions in tax revenue to slip through their fingers. The European Parliament is not up to the challenge either, with most parliamentarians refusing to launch an inquiry committee into a problem that is funneling money away from the public purse," Natalia Alonso, Oxfam's Deputy Director of Advocacy and Campaigns, said as quoted in the statement, published on the organization's official website.
Oxfam noted that the EU is unable to solve the problem with the legal tools it currently has at its disposal and called for greater harmonization of the tax base at the EU level.
On November 5, the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) uncovered documents revealing some 340 international companies that had reached a tax avoidance deal with Luxembourg authorities. The list included companies such as Pepsi, IKEA, FedEx and Amazon. The documents revealed by ICIJ on December 9 expanded the list by 35 more names.
The scandal resulted in a motion of no-confidence against the European Commission leader Jean-Claude Juncker, brought by the Europe of Freedom and Direct Democracy (EFDD) group in the European Parliament. EFDD stated that Juncker, who served as Luxembourg's prime minister from 1995 to 2013, was directly responsible for the country's tax avoidance policies. On November 27, however, the motion was rejected by the European Parliament with 461 parliament members voting against it and 101 in favor.
