Panama defined as tax haven
The European Commission (EC) has devised a new action plan that is intended to prevent financial abuses through the erosion of tax bases applied to companies in 28 member states.
To do this it has developed a black list that includes 30 tax havens, including Panama.
According to documents published by the European Union (EU), this list will be “used to sift through non-cooperative jurisdictions in tax matters and develop a common strategy for the EC” with these regulations.
It’s a project that has been heavily criticized because it was developed under Jean-Claude Junker. According to investigations, Junker orchestrated a regime that allowed a number of companies, such as Apple, Amazon, Ikea, Burberry, Procter & Gamble and Deutsche Bank,to pay less taxes in Luxembourg while he was head of the government. Reports La Prensa.
The list specifically excludes Luxembourg, whose deficiencies in international regulations allowed large companies to use that country as a tax haven.
Vanessa Mock, spokesman for the European Commission, said there “has been no evaluation or analysis of the countries listed in the European Union” for possible violations of the regulations it wants to impose on other countries.
In the case of Panama, the commission also apparently failed to take into account tax agreements it signed with Spain and Italy.
The government plans on issuing a response next week.