Following the Panama Papers revelations, the European Parliament set up Thursday a committee to investigate into the use of offshore accounts.
“Current European legislation is definitely not enough to hinder tax avoidance. We are calling for more ambitious proposals from the European Commission, notwithstanding that some important steps have already been taken,” Michael Theurer, a German member of the European Parliament, said.
“We need an effective EU legislative framework based on the Community method, including a Common Consolidated Corporate Tax Base,” Theurer said adding that the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development's Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) measures are not enough to tackle the problem.
He called for stricter sanctions being imposed, “including dispossession of the banking license.”
He warned that keeping low profile on the potential involvement of top-politicians, athletes, managers and banks in tax evasion would mean a boost for right-wing populism.
Earlier in April, the German newspaper Sueddeutsche Zeitung exposed the alleged involvement of the world's wealthy including a number of former and current leaders, in offshore schemes by publishing materials it claimed came from Mossack Fonseca, a Panama firm selling offshore companies.
