EU fights tax evasion
Vienna Review
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Jun 07, 2013
Jun 07, 2013
Legal loopholes, tax dodges, and secretive banking practices in Austria and Luxembourg are costing the Eurozone approximately €1 trillion in lost tax revenue every year. Now EU leaders are pledging to crack down.
The European Parliament issued a resolution on 21 May urging the EU to halve annual losses by 2020. Officials from across the EU are promising to tighten loopholes and scrutinize banks.
"I am really convinced there is a strong political will by leaders not just on the European level, but on the global level, to tackle tax fraud," Herman Van Rompuy, president of the European Council, told a news conference in May.
On 22 May, Austrian Chancellor Werner Faymann - with hearty praise from German Chancellor Angela Merkel - agreed to share Austria’s data on foreign depositors, "It’s a bad day for tax cheats", he said, according to the news agency Reuters.