Sant votes against report on Europe-wide minimum tax rates

Labour MEP Alfred Sant has expressed disagreement with a European Parliament resolution that seeks to override the tax sovereignty that EU Member States have under the treaties.

Alfred Sant said the resolution supports Europe-wide minimum tax rates that deny the legitimate right of peripheral countries to set tax rates that compensate for the endowment and situational handicaps that they carry in the single market.

He said this runs parallel with another exercise to name-and-shame certain EU members for being “secrecy” jurisdictions when, in fact, they are applying EU laws on tax transparency and anti-abuse measures.

“I absolutely cannot support disproportionate proposals for tax harmonisation as featured in the resolution,” Alfred Sant said.

The head of Malta’s Labour delegation in the European Parliament voted against the report but supported the objectives of drawing up an EU list of tax havens, by which jurisdictions that blatantly and knowingly run tax systems that help outside persons, corporations and other financial entities evade or avoid the taxes they should be paying.

“I fully agree that such approaches should be denounced and combated, which is why I support the increase of public scrutiny in the processes of the Code of Conduct Group that draws up the list,” Sant said.

Sant also welcomed the call to strengthen the screening criteria and make the list more effective in an increasingly digitalised economy.

The vote on the report entitled ‘Reforming the EU list of tax havens’ was the European Parliament’s the first-ever resolution from FISC, the newly established permanent tax matters sub-committee of which Alfred Sant is a member.