Martin Schulz, the European Parliament President, delivered a speech at the 21st Congress of the Portuguese Socialist Party (PS) on June 4 in Lisbon, Portugal.
Martin Schulz, the European Parliament President, speech at the 21st Congress of the Portuguese Socialist Party.
The European Parliament President said on Saturday that there is a need to strengthen the fight against tax evasion and tax fraud.
“We are the richest part of the world. The single market of the European Union is the richest single market in the world. But the distribution of wealth in Europe is not fair and not just. What we need is more solidarity between the countries of the eurozone, between countries of the EU and among people in the EU.”
Martin Schulz
“We’re facing a situation where speculators make billions of profits and don’t pay taxes for it. But when they make losses, the taxpayers have to pay for them. This is not the EU we want.”
Martin Schulz
The European Commission has been proposing several initiatives to harmonize taxation across the 28 different tax regimes and increase competitiveness to attract more investment. The Common Consolidated Corporate Tax Base (CCCTB) was re-launched last year and aims to simplify the EU’s corporate tax system. The European Anti-Tax Avoidance Package is another Commission Directive of corporate taxation to enable companies to pay taxes where the profits happen.
“The fight against tax evasion and tax fraud. Closing of tax heavens is one of the main goals of social democrats. Not only in Europe, worldwide. And nobody else but we, is fighting for it.”
Martin Schulz
“I just took a coffee here beside the conference hall. The owner of that coffee shop has to pay taxes here, but a worldwide acting American coffee company shop should not pay taxes. This is not just and fair. I think one of the main goals of social democrats is more justice, also by a common tax regime in the European Union.”
Martin Schulz