Digital Tax: citizens expect Europe to take action

The EPP Group deplores that the Finance Ministers of the EU Member States have been unable to agree on the planned tax for internet companies. "We have to send a strong signal to European citizens that digital multinational companies pay their fair share of taxes in the place where they make profits, and are not able to simply shift their profits to low tax countries”, said the EPP Group's Dariusz Rosati MEP and Gabriel Mato MEP on the draft laws in Parliament's Committee on Economic Affairs.

"The EPP Group cannot accept that digital multinationals pay less than half the taxes that traditional companies do. The quarrels and mutual vetoes in the Council lead to the EU being unable to tackle the problem. The European Union should be a trendsetter, while also continuing to work on an international solution on the OECD level. It is high time to act and as the EPP Group, we will do it", Rosati said. Rosati is Parliament's Rapporteur of the law, which aims to change the tax base to better capture the functioning of internet and digital business.

The European Union should be a trendsetter. Dariusz Rosati MEP

"All companies operating in the EU Single Market, digital or traditional, large multinational, Mid Caps or SMEs, they all have to pay their fair share of taxes. We need to bring our tax systems into the 21st century. Many tax laws were made decades ago when the digital economy didn’t have a significant role yet. Citizens expect Europe to take action, because you cannot tackle the problem at national level", said Gabriel Mato MEP, the EPP Group's negotiator of a new flat 3% corporate taxation for big internet companies which have revenues of more than €750 million.

The EPP Group will vote in favour of both draft laws in today's vote. Parliament is only consulted on tax matters, while EU Member States can decide unanimously only.

We need to bring our tax systems into the 21st century. Gabriel Mato MEP