Tax me if you can!? Tax havens and multinational enterprises in the EU (01/2019)

The strikingly low tax payments of individual multinational enterprises revealed by the Luxembourg Leaks and other journalistic investigations have shed serious doubts on the effectiveness of the international corporate tax system. It seems that aggressive tax competition strategies have led to a situation in which multinational enterprises can minimize their tax payments to the detriment of public financial interests or at the cost of other taxpayers. Despite increased international cooperation efforts, the tax avoidance business still seems to flourish even in EU member states. The IPE invites Fabio De Masi and Sarah Godar to discuss: How serious is the problem of corporate profit shifting in terms of public revenue losses? What countermeasures have been taken at the national and international level? What remains to be done and what are the main obstacles to reform in the EU?

Speaker

Fabio De Masi
Member of the German Bundestag (Die Linke) and
former Vice Chair of the European Parliament’s
Panama Papers Inquiry Committee

Sarah Godar
Researcher, IPE/HWR Berlin

Moderation

Prof. Dr. Achim Truger
IPE/HWR Berlin