Gauke rejects EC tax avoidance plan

David Gauke, financial secretary to the Treasury, told representatives from the European Parliament that Britain would reject plans to combat tax avoidance by multinationals

According to the Guardian, German MEP Michael Theurer said, “He was very clear that the UK is insisting on tax competition”.

The European Commission’s plan to relaunch the Common Consolidated Corporate Tax Base was announced by commissioner Pierre Moscovici this week. It is intended to lead fundamental reform of corporate tax in the UK.

Speaking at the launch of the action plan, Moscovici said, “Corporation tax in the EU needs radical reform. In the interests of growth, competitiveness and fairness, member states need to pull together and everyone must pay their fair share,

“The commission has today laid the foundation for a new approach to corporate taxation in the EU. Member states must now build on it.”

It was, however, met with caution. ICAEW international tax manager Ian Young said, “Proposals for this have been considered and rejected in the past and we have real concerns about the direction of travel that the commission is setting on.”

The Commission also published on Wednesday a blacklist of what it has termed the world’s worst offending tax havens. The list, which includes the Cayman Islands, British Virgin Islands and Guernsey, has been noted for its omission of both Jersey and Luxembourg – recently embroiled in the LuxLeaks scandal.

Today the government of Bermuda issues a statement condemning the list and said its inclusion was “unjustified and baseless”.

“A closer scrutiny of this latest development reveals something wrong with this process,” said Bob Richards, Bermuda’s minster of finance.

He said that “at least five” of the 11 states that had nominated Bermuda had “not performed their obligations.

He said, “If there had been consultation we would have had the opportunity to point out that at least five of the 11 countries named as black-listing Bermuda had either not performed their obligation required to consummate a tax information exchange agreement with Bermuda or had failed to keep their promise made to Bermuda to amend their legislation to remove us from their black-list.

“Bermuda prides itself in being a highly cooperative business centre and has gone the extra mile to be ahead of the curve in this respect.”