Juncker Branded Hypocrite Over EU Tax Transparency Moves

The issue of multinational tax avoidance dates back to the LuxLeaks scandal when it emerged that companies including Starbucks, Fiat Finance, Pepsi, IKEA, AIG, Coach, Deutsche Bank, Abbott Laboratories and nearly 340 other companies secured secret deals from Luxembourg that allowed many of them to slash their global tax bills. 

Juncker was Prime Minister of Luxembourg from 1995 to 2013, during which period the special tax arrangements were made. Juncker said he had "never, never, never" instructed officials "to set in place any tax system". 

Juncker’s team is now said to be looking at forcing companies to declare their profits on goods and services in each individual EU member state, in an effort to promote more tax transparency. 

Paul Nuttall, Deputy Leader of the UK Independence Party, and a European Parliament lawmaker told Sputnik Friday:

"I don’t think there’s any doubt that multinational companies should be paying their fair share of taxes to the countries where they are making their profits. What is surprising is that we have Jean-Claude Juncker, the president of the unelected European Commission of all people, demanding this. Mr Juncker was the Prime Minister of Luxembourg when the so-called LuxLeaks scandal emerged in 2014."

Smoke and Mirrors 

The 'sweetheart tax' agreement allowed the multinationals to channel their European profits through the Netherlands to drastically reduce their tax liabilities in other member states.

​Companies have channeled hundreds of billions of dollars through Luxembourg and saved billions of dollars in taxes. Nuttall told Sputnik:

"The LuxLeaks disclosures by journalists revealed massive tax avoidance schemes in Luxembourg that happened under Mr Juncker’s watch. And he was appointed EC president only days after the LuxLeaks revelations became public." 

"He also presides over a Commission that proposes legislation for the European Parliament to endorse, an organization which itself has not had its own accounts signed off for over 20 years."

"So while most right-minded people would agree that global business should pay its way in the countries it operates and makes profit from, Mr Juncker is perhaps not the best person to be advocating it."