25 Amendments of Gunnar BECK related to 2020/2259(INI)
Amendment 2 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 1 a (new)
Citation 1 a (new)
— having regard to articles 113, 114 and 115 TFEU,
Amendment 20 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A
Recital A
A. whereas the fiscal system must be reformed if the stateaim is to continue establishing the preconditions for inclusive and sustainable well-beingprotect the solvency and effectiveness of the welfare state;
Amendment 21 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A a (new)
Recital A a (new)
A a. whereas taxation is an exclusive competence of the Member States, and requires unanimity in Council in accordance with articles 113, 114, and 115 TFEU;
Amendment 32 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B
Recital B
B. whereas the economic recovery and the climate crisis have increased the need to mobilise more resources and re- evaluate the current taxation policiescould serve as a pretext to improve, update, and streamline taxation policies, fit for the digital age;
Amendment 42 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C
Recital C
C. whereas tax morale is generally higher in countries that tax more heavily, which is evidence for the willingness of citizens to pay tax in return for effective public services9 ; _________________ 9 https://www.oecd- ilibrary.org/sites/0533eea9- en/index.html?itemId=/content/component/ 0533eea9-encitizens deserve the best public services for their hard-earned tax contributions;
Amendment 67 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital E
Recital E
E. whereas small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are particularly affected by the complexities of the tax system and tax complianceopaque and complex tax systems are harder to navigate for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), disproportionately so compared to multinational enterprises (MNEs);
Amendment 72 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital E a (new)
Recital E a (new)
E a. whereas pollution should be defined as the emission of negative externalities of any economic activity into the environment, which may be characterized as a sphere where property rights are not established or too costly to enforce;
Amendment 76 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital E b (new)
Recital E b (new)
E b. whereas the aim of environmental taxes should not be to maximize tax revenue, but to incentivize economic agents to internalise the costs of their negative externalities, and therefore minimize pollution; whereas this implies that in a climate-neutral economy, the revenue from such taxes is zero;
Amendment 85 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Considers that COVID-19 has given the EU a unique chance for a proper and holisticthe economic fall- out of the national and regional lockdown measures following the outbreak of COVID-19 could be a pretext for analysis ofng tax systems, how individual taxes interact and how they can be better coordinated to produce more flexible, resilient, green and fairer tax systems; recommends that Member States take this opportunity to build a new social-fiscal contract with citizens; underlines that this will help not only with raising revenues, but also with buildingunderlines that raising revenues should not be the aim of this endeavour, but rather a possible effect of less opaque tax systems, as indicated by the Laffer curve; underlines that repair trust and accountability between citizens and the state; stresses the need for coordination at EU level to avoid distortions and subsequent revenue losseshould be at the core of this endeavour;
Amendment 90 #
Motion for a resolution
Subheading 1
Subheading 1
Challenges facing our tax system from an socio-economic, social and environmental perspective
Amendment 92 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Highlights that current tax systems, and the fiscal capacities of Member States, are already facing and will increasingly face severe shocks, such as the need for large public investments to, such as sustaining the economic recovery andfollowing the national and regional lockdown measures, the green transition, the ageing of our societies and the consequent reduction in the working-age population, the digital transformation of our labour markets, increased tax competition and the existing tax gap10 ; _________________ 10 the European Union’ survey, 2020, https://ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs/busi ness/company-tax/tax-good- governance/european-semester/tsocial cost of mass-immigration, highlight the limits of our tax systems; European Commission, ‘Tax- policies-european-union-survey_e in
Amendment 105 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Underlines that taxation and tax collectiohe tax burden haves shifted the tax incidence from wealth to income, from capital to labour income and consumption, from MNEs to SMEs, and from the financial sector to the real economy; observes with concern this shift in the tax burden from more mobile to less mobile taxpayers, resulting in a lower average tax burden for the very income- rich11 ; _________________ 11European Commission, ‘Tax policies in the European Union’ survey, 2020, https://ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs/busi ness/company-tax/tax-good- governance/european-semester/tax- policies-european-union-survey_en
Amendment 111 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Points out that technological progress and economic integration are making the taxpayers and tax bases of all types of tax increasingly mobile12 ; notes that this could reinforce the tendency to rely on immobile tax basesspurs a revision of the at arm´s length principle1a; _________________ 12European Commission, ‘Tax policies in the European Union’ survey, 2020, https://ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs/busi ness/company-tax/tax-good- governance/european-semester/tax- policies-european-union-survey_en 1a OECD BEPS 8-10
Amendment 115 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Observes that in spite of the numerous calls for shifting taxation from labour to pollution, revenues from taxes on pollution and resources in particular have remained very low, and yet they offer a potential source for increasing revenue through the application of the ‘polluter pays’ principle and are difficult to evade owing to the character of the tax base; underlines that the goal of taxation on pollution should be to incentivize polluters to internalize negative externalities, and therefore the goal should be a shift in behaviour, rather than a maximization of tax revenue;
Amendment 133 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Notes that a significant amount of government funding is channeled through tax expenditure in the form of exemptions, deductions, credits, deferrals and reduced tax rates13 ; _________________ 13The tax-expenditure-to-GDP ratio is on average 4.5 percentage points in the EU; https://www.cepweb.org/reforming-tax- expenditures/;IMF, ‘Tax Policy for Inclusive Growth after the Pandemic’, 16 December 2020, https://www.imf.org/en/Publications/SPRO LLs/covid19-special-notes#fiscalMember States' tax bases are significantly challenged by the free movement of capital, as enshrined in articles 63 to 66 TFEU; suggest that a revision of the four freedoms should be part of the recalibration of taxation in the EU;
Amendment 144 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. Notes that COVID-19 has demonstrated that the current disproportionate e limits of our social welfare state and its overreliance on labour income taxeations and social contributions, which puts the onus on continued high levels of employment and consumption to fund government spending and policies, is neither sustainable nor economically effective;
Amendment 149 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8
Paragraph 8
8. Notes with concern that the impact of the regional and national lockdown measures following the COVID-19 pandemic is highly regressive, with the poorest households being the most severely hit14 ; regrets that large companithese lockdown measures that realise excess profitve benefited large and digital companies, such as e-commerce businesses and wealthy individuals who realise significant capital gains through speculation, are often undertaxednd the consequences of accommodative monetary policies, and has disadvantaged small and medium-size enterprises with short and local supply chains, who have been forced to close for several months since March 2020; _________________ 14OECD, ‘Tax and Fiscal Policy in Response to the Coronavirus Crisis: Strengthening Confidence and Resilience’, 19 May 2020,https://www.oecd.org/ctp/tax- policy/tax-and-fiscal-policy-in-response- to-the-coronavirus-crisis-strengthening- confidence-and-resilience.htm
Amendment 170 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9
Paragraph 9
9. Highlights that environmentalPigouvian taxes have the potential to cover the need for additional revenue while supporting a resilient, competitive, and sustainable and carbon-free economy; calls on Member States to consider expanding the tax base for environmental taxes through inter alia natural resource taxes, distance-based charges in the transport sector, fuel prices, and the taxation of deforestation, landfill, incineration, pesticides and fertilizersshifting from taxing income to taxing the emission of negative externalities into the environment;
Amendment 179 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10 a (new)
Paragraph 10 a (new)
10 a. Underlines that a general tax shift should also consider a shift from EU citizens and European enterprises to non- EU foreign nationals and their property within the EU, as well as non- EU based multinational enterprises;
Amendment 186 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11
Paragraph 11
11. Warns that national budgets cannot rely on environmental taxes alone, as some of these revenues will fall as environmental harmthe EU´s overarching goal of climate neutrality implies that the revenue of such taxes will decreases over time and ideally be 0; calls on Member States to develop holistic tax reforms, shifting taxation from labour to not only pollution but also non- EU foreign capital and wealth16 ; _________________ 16 European Commission, ‘Tax policies in the European Union’ survey, 2020, https://ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs/busi ness/company-tax/tax-good- governance/european-semester/tax- policies-european-union-survey_en
Amendment 188 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11 a (new)
Paragraph 11 a (new)
11 a. Calls on the European Commission to end the exemption of civil society organisations from the scope of the Anti-Money Laundering Directive and the Anti-Tax Avoidance Directive, in order to ensure that contributions to such organisations are duly scrutinized on their legality and origin, as requested by the European Court of Auditors1a, the FATF2a, the Maltese government report, backed by Moneyval3a; regrets that the European Court of Justice has deemed such scrutiny in violation of the free movement of capital4a; _________________ 1aSpecial Report No 35/2018 of 18 December 2018 entitled ‘Transparency of EU funds implemented by NGOs: more effort needed’, which requests that the EU draw up a legal definition of NGOs. 2aRecommendations V and VIII of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF). 3a2017 Annual Report of the Maltese Commissioner for Voluntary Organisations. 4aJudgment of the Court of Justice of 18 June 2020, European Commission v Hungary, C-78/18, ECLI:EU:C:2020:476.
Amendment 218 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14
Paragraph 14
14. WelcomesTakes note of initiatives taken by the Commission within the framework of the Green Deal; notes with concern that no clear and holistic guidance exists on how taxation shcould contribute to achieving the goals set out in the Green Deal and considers that the taxation system should therefore be reformed;
Amendment 229 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16
Paragraph 16
16. WelcomesTakes note of the Commission’s soon- to-be-published revision of the Energy Taxation Directive17 ; calls on Member States to agree to close tax exemptions for aviation and maritime fuels, increase minimum rates and restore the level playing field; calls on the Commission to launch a proposal for a progressive European kerosene tax; _________________ 17 OJ L 283, 31.10.2003, p. 51.
Amendment 249 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18
Paragraph 18
Amendment 254 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18 a (new)
Paragraph 18 a (new)