6.9.2022
EN
Official Journal of the European Union
C 342/21 Tuesday 15 February 2022
33.
Calls on the Member States to continue reforming tax authorities, to speed up digitalisation and to start implementing strategic approaches to support SMEs with tax compliance as well as to identify opportunities for burden reductions; calls on the Member States to perform sound and robust reforms on the complexity of tax systems, with the aim of reducing bureaucracy, the administrative burden and compliance costs; recalls that there is high added value on European cooperation on this matter and on the exchange of best practices between tax authorities; 34.
Calls on the Member States to make better use of the EU fiscalis programme in order to improve cooperation between tax authorities in their reform efforts; calls on the Commission, in this regard, to establish an Erasmus exchange programme for tax officers in order to encourage the take-up of best practices; 35.
Asks the Commission to follow and monitor new national tax reforms or measures implemented as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic to sustain the economy, in particular measures that are not temporary; calls on the Member States to perform reforms on tax systems and to take advantage of the opportunities offered by European instruments that aim to support the economic recovery; stresses that these reforms must respect the European fiscal framework; recalls that these reforms should be performed in full respect of national competences on tax matters, but stresses that strong coordination between Member States would result in significant added value; 36.
Supports high standards of respect for taxpayer rights, especially on privacy and data protection, and in particular for individuals, in any political and legislative process regarding taxation; 37.
Notes that most national procurement procedures in Member States use lowest price as the only award criterion for public contracts; recalls the Council’s call on the Commission to consider how to tackle distortive effects resulting from the participation of bidders with activities in jurisdictions included on the EU list of non-cooperative jurisdictions for tax purposes; invites the Commission to revisit its public procurement strategy in this regard; EU taxation scoreboard 38.
Takes note of the Commission’s ongoing work on an EU tax scoreboard; recommends the use of economic indicators that allow distortions in the single market, such as the levels of FDI, royalties and interests payments, to be identified; highlights that such a scoreboard must contribute to the fight against harmful tax competition; calls on the Commission to duly take into account the considerable public revenue losses imposed by national tax policies that are facilitating tax avoidance; understands that this tax scoreboard must be built as an instrument to help Member States perform sound and robust reforms on tax matters; warns against the use of this scoreboard to shame specific Member States, but believes it can foster debate on needed reforms; encourages strong cooperation with current European platforms in the building of this scoreboard; understands that this new instrument could be useful for the European Semester process and in particular for the country specific recommendations; o o
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39.
Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission, and the governments and parliaments of the Member States.