20 Amendments of Billy KELLEHER related to 2022/2080(INI)
Amendment 3 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 8 a (new)
Citation 8 a (new)
Amendment 7 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B
Recital B
B. whereas the Pandora Papers revealed how high-net-worth individuals, including politically exposed persons, criminals, public officials and celebrities, are assisted by intermediaries, such as banks, accountants and law firms, in designing complex corporate structures registered in secrecy jurisdictions or tax havens in close cooperation with offshore professional service providers in order to shield income and assets from taxation and possibly launder money, sanctions and other legal obligations and to enable money laundering and terrorist financing;
Amendment 15 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B a (new)
Recital B a (new)
B a. whereas the Pandora Papers’ revelations reported on the creation of shell companies with the purpose of moving money between bank accounts, avoiding taxes and carrying out financial crimes, including money laundering, terrorist financing and circumventing EU sanctions for Russian oligarchs;
Amendment 25 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Highlights the role of international investigative journalism and whistleblowers in exposing tax avoidance and evasion, corruption, organised crime and money laundering; deems it necessary to further protect the confidentiality of the sources of investigative journalism, including whistleblowerregrets that the obligation repeatedly falls on journalists and whistleblowers to identify and expose the loopholes in the international tax and money laundering and terrorist financing frameworks;
Amendment 36 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. RDeems it necessary to further protect the confidentiality of the sources of investigative journalism, including whistleblowers; regrets the fact that only 10 Member States have passed legislation to transpose the Whistleblowers Directive7 , 15 are still in the process of doing so, and two have taken no or minimal action; _________________ 7 Directive (EU) 2019/1937 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2019 on the protection of persons who report breaches of Union law, OJ L 305, 26.11.2019, p. 17.
Amendment 47 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3 a (new)
Paragraph 3 a (new)
3 a. Welcomes the OECD / G20 agreement from October 2021 on the reform of the international corporate tax rules; points out that Pillar II of the agreement, once implemented, will introduce a global minimum effective corporate tax rate of 15% applicable to companies with a yearly revenue above EUR 750 million which should help reduce the use of tax havens globally; reiterates its call on the Council to swiftly adopt the Pillar II Directive to ensure the agreement is effective by January 2023; urges Hungary to put an immediate end to its blockage of the global tax deal in the Council;
Amendment 54 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
Amendment 58 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. RegDeplorets the fact that, as exposed by the Pandora Papers9 , PwC, along with other westernwestern intermediary firms, had a central role in assisting Russian oligarchs with their investments in the West through their networks of offshore shell companies10 ; highlights that such networks are hindering the application of EU sanctions on Russian individuals and that there is a high likelihood that such networks are being used to shield Russian owned assets from EU sanctions; regrets the absence of visible investigations into the intermediary sector in the EU following the Pandora Papers and the EU’s sanctions on Russian oligarchs; calls on the authorities in the Member States to investigate any wrongdoing by these firms; _________________ 10 ‘How Western Firms Quietly Enabled Russian Oligarchs’, The New York Times, 9 March 2022. 9 ‘The oligarch’s accountants: How PwC helped a Russia steel baron grow his offshore empire’, International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, Pandora Papers, 11 April 2022.
Amendment 70 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to recognise and address the risks of conflicts of interest stemming from the provision of legal advice, tax advice and auditing services when advising both corporate clients and public authorities; reiterates its cCalls on the Commission to proposeconsider introducing measures to clearly separate accountancy firms from financial or tax service providers as well as all advisory services;
Amendment 74 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8
Paragraph 8
8. Welcomes the fact that the Commission is preparing new legislative initiatives in the field of the regulation of intermediaries through an act securing the activity framework of enablers (SAFE) in order to tackle the role of enablers involved in facilitating tax evasion and aggressive tax planning; urges the Commission to ensure that the framework includes robust enforcement against intermediaries creating and operating schemes which enable tax evasion and aggressive tax planning as well as facilitating and contributing to the concealment of wealth and assets; in that context, urges the Commission to continue to improve information sharing amongst Member State tax administrations and cooperation on the global stage; awaits the Commission proposal without further delay;
Amendment 95 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11
Paragraph 11
11. Observes, in parallel, a growing trend for countries, andincluding EU Member States in particular, to adopt legal frameworks designed to attract high-net-worth individuals, foreign pensioners and highly skilled workers to invest or live in their territory, notably granting them generous tax benefits and exemptions which do not apply to nationals, in addition to offering golden visas and selling citizenship opportunities;
Amendment 107 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13
Paragraph 13
13. Calls for the scope of the Code of Conduct Group on Business Taxation to be expanded, in particular to include preferential personal income or capital tax regimes, or personal income and wealth tax regimes that could lead to significant distortions in the single market; considers thfacilitate thise could enable the scope of the Code of Conduct Group to capture regimes aimed at attracting high net worth and high levels of income not created in the Member State proposing the tax regimencealment of assets, perpetuate corruption and enable money laundering;
Amendment 111 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13 a (new)
Paragraph 13 a (new)
13 a. Reiterates its concerns that schemes granting nationality or residency on the basis of a financial investment , also known as ‘golden passports’, are objectionable from an ethical, legal and economic point of view and pose several serious security risks for Union citizens, such as those stemming from money- laundering and corruption;
Amendment 115 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14
Paragraph 14
Amendment 147 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16
Paragraph 16
16. Notes that shell companies are often used for aggressive tax planning or tax evasion purposes; Welcomes the Commission proposal for a Council directive laying down rules to prevent the misuse of shell entities for tax purposes and amending Directive 2011/16/EU14 ; calls on the Council to swiftly adopt the proposal once Parliament has submitted its opinion; underlines that establishing new transparency standards around the use of shell entities will help in making sure their abuse can be more easily detected by tax authorities; _________________ 14 COM(2021)0565.
Amendment 165 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17
Paragraph 17
17. Is deeply disappointWelcomes the much-awaited agreement reached byat the failure of finance ministers to adopt the much-needed reform of the Code of Conduct for Business Taxation on 7 December 2021, after several unsuccessful attempts; condemns Hungary and Estonia, in particular, for blocking the reformCouncil on November 8 to broaden the scope of the Code of Conduct for Business Taxation to 'tax features of general application'; notes that these will be regarded as harmful if they lead to double non-taxation or the multiple use of tax benefits;
Amendment 171 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18
Paragraph 18
18. Deplores, in particular, the Council’s lack of willingness to agree on the forthcoming transparency criterion with regard to ultimate beneficial ownership, the concealment of which was a common feature in the schemes exposed by the Panama Papers, and was a key contributing factor to the continuation and success of such schemes;
Amendment 176 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18 a (new)
Paragraph 18 a (new)
18 a. Stresses that the Pandora Papers are a further reminder of the need to make the EU list of non-cooperative jurisdictions more effective so that it not only serves as an instrument to help EU entities and authorities to identify risky entities and take precautionary measures, but also to actively encourage and cooperate with countries to make reforms to comply with international tax standards;
Amendment 179 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18 b (new)
Paragraph 18 b (new)
18 b. Reiterates the conclusions and recommendations of its resolution of 21 January 2021 on reforming the EU list of tax havens; calls to strengthen the EU list criteria, and to ensure greater implementation of commitments, especially for the “Fair taxation” stating that "the jurisdiction should not facilitate offshore structures or arrangements aimed at attracting profits which do not reflect real economic activity in the jurisdiction”;
Amendment 183 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19
Paragraph 19
19. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Member State governments and parliaments, the Council and, the Commission and the Financial Action Task Force.