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European Parliament to debate tax evasion EU tax: Barroso urges full automatic exchange of data
(about 11 hours later)
The European Parliament is due to meet to debate ways to tackle tax evasion, ahead of an EU summit on the issue. The head of the European Commission has told the European Parliament he wants EU-wide exchange of income data as part of the fight against tax evasion.
The EU says 1tn euros ($1.3tn; £0.85tn) a year are lost in member states via tax evasion, seven times the EU budget. Jose Manuel Barroso said he would urge Wednesday's summit of EU leaders to support automatic exchange of people's earnings data between tax authorities.
There is anger over revelations about Greek and French politicians holding secret Swiss bank accounts. Tax evasion costs EU states 1tn euros ($1.3tn; £0.85tn) a year, more than was spent on healthcare in 2008.
MEPs are expected to call for a Europe-wide blacklist of tax havens, and pressure is likely to be put on Switzerland to relax banking secrecy. MEPs are expected to call for a Europe-wide blacklist of tax havens.
Pressure is likely to be put on Switzerland to relax banking secrecy amid anger over revelations about Greek and French politicians holding secret Swiss bank accounts.
The debate comes a day after UK Prime Minister David Cameron urged British overseas territories which operate low-tax regimes to "get their house in order" and sign up to international treaties on tax.The debate comes a day after UK Prime Minister David Cameron urged British overseas territories which operate low-tax regimes to "get their house in order" and sign up to international treaties on tax.
The UK is also expected to push for tighter tax measures at the G8 summit in June. Mr Barroso said he wanted to see the principle of automatic exchange "become the standard at international level as well".
The US Senate is currently scrutinising the low global tax payments of Apple Inc and its subsidiaries in the Republic of Ireland in particular.
The main subsidiary, a holding company that includes Apple's retail stores throughout Europe, has not paid any corporate income tax in the last five years, a Senate memorandum says.
New rulesNew rules
The BBC's Imogen Foulkes in the French city of Strasbourg, where the parliament is meeting, says Europe's cash-strapped governments cannot afford to lose a single penny in tax revenue, let alone the 1tn euros a year it believes is disappearing into offshore tax havens. In his speech to the parliament, Mr Barroso asked: "How can we explain to honest households and businesses who are feeling the squeeze yet still paying their fair share of taxes, that there are other parts of society and enterprise who are deliberately avoiding paying up?"
Its members are expected to call for a series of measures, including a blacklist of tax havens, a system of automatic exchange of banking information, and for resources to be channelled into the prosecution of tax evaders and recovering lost revenue. A trillion euros was, he said, "a huge amount of money to simply let through the net".
On Wednesday, an EU summit will discuss the problem. He said he would make a call at Wednesday's summit of EU leaders for the EU to adopt automatic exchange of income information on 1 January 2015.
Non-EU member Switzerland is expected to come under pressure to put in place new rules. EU tax authorities, he pointed out, already automatically exchanged information for income such as employment, pensions and insurance but he was proposing to include "all relevant types of income, such as dividends and capital gains".
The BBC's Imogen Foulkes says Europe's cash-strapped governments cannot afford to lose a single cent in tax revenue, let alone 1tn euros a year.
At Tuesday's debate, non-EU member Switzerland is expected to come under pressure to put in place new rules.
Our correspondent says even top Swiss bankers now admit time is running out for its trademark banking secrecy.
Last week EU finance ministers agreed to start talks with Switzerland, along with Liechtenstein, Monaco, Andorra and San Marino, on swapping bank account information.Last week EU finance ministers agreed to start talks with Switzerland, along with Liechtenstein, Monaco, Andorra and San Marino, on swapping bank account information.
Attempts to tighten up on tax evasion follow a furore in Greece over the so-called Lagarde list, containing the names of more than 2,000 Greeks including senior politicians with Swiss bank accounts.Attempts to tighten up on tax evasion follow a furore in Greece over the so-called Lagarde list, containing the names of more than 2,000 Greeks including senior politicians with Swiss bank accounts.
More recently, France's Socialist government was hit by a scandal, as former Budget Minister Jerome Cahuzac was forced to resign over tax fraud allegations.More recently, France's Socialist government was hit by a scandal, as former Budget Minister Jerome Cahuzac was forced to resign over tax fraud allegations.
He later admitted that he had hidden about 600,000 euros in a Swiss bank account.He later admitted that he had hidden about 600,000 euros in a Swiss bank account.