unimelb-nlp/MultiEup-v2 huggingface dataset:
Debate: Fair and simple taxation supporting the recovery strategy
Date: WEDNESDAY, 9 MARCH 2022
Speaker: João Pimenta Lopes
Political group: The Left
Country: Romania
Language: PT

Trata-se, também com responsabilidades da União Europeia, de um fenómeno inegável, como é a complacência com os paraísos fiscais dentro e fora da União Europeia que permitem parquear lucros, rendimentos e propriedades de multinacionais e grandes fortunas que urge erradicar e que o relatório praticamente ignora. Este relatório não encontra no seu conteúdo as respostas necessárias à reivindicação de justiça fiscal que o seu título preconiza, rejeitando uma harmonização fiscal supranacional que atenta à soberania fiscal de cada Estado. O que falta é a introdução de medidas no plano nacional que articulem em medidas de cooperação entre Estados, onde se verifique necessário.  Uma política fiscal mais justa, articulada com a dimensão orçamental, exige que a tributação evolua para assegurar o investimento e sustentar o financiamento das funções sociais do Estado, desonerando fiscalmente os trabalhadores, assim como as micro e pequenas empresas, e obrigando as grandes fortunas, as multinacionais e os grandes grupos económicos a um esforço fiscal mais elevado e adequado.  Exige autoridades tributárias providas de meios robustos, a tributação dos lucros onde são gerados, a tributação das transações financeiras das multinacionais do setor digital, dos bens de luxo e das grandes fortunas, contribuindo para a recuperação económica e o alívio das famílias.
Debate: Fair and simple taxation supporting the recovery strategy
Date: WEDNESDAY, 9 MARCH 2022
Speaker: Sunčana Glavak
Political group: PPE
Country: Netherlands
Language: HR

Poštovani predsjedavajući, zahvaljujem izvjestitelju i slažem se da je tema iznimno važna, posebno u ovim izazovnim okolnostima. Pandemija virusa COVID-19 već je izazvala teške posljedice za funkcioniranje europskog i svjetskog gospodarstva, što je dovelo i do smanjenja poreznih prihoda te, naravno, do zaduženosti i rashoda.  Rezultat ovakvih negativnih trendova je povećanje državnoga duga, što može dovesti i do, jasno je, dugoročnih makroekonomskih posljedica za Europsku uniju i države članice. Posebno su na udaru mala i srednja poduzeća koja čine takozvanu kičmu europske ekonomije.  Procjenjuje se da je u 2018. godini razlika između očekivanih prihoda od PDV-a i skupljenih sredstava bila vrtoglavih 140 milijardi eura te se očekuje da ta brojka poraste na 160 po završetku pandemije. S druge strane, troškovi MSP-ova koji poštuju porezna pravila čine čak 30 posto njihovog poreznog opterećenja. Za velika poduzeća, s druge strane, oni čine dva posto.  Građani su svjesni problema i zahtijevaju hitno rješavanje. Kada govorimo o oporezivanju moramo biti svjesni da nikada nećemo naći onu zadovoljavajuću razinu, ali bez poreza jednostavno države ne mogu funkcionirati.  Pozdravljam prijedlog Komisije koji teži pravednom oporezivanju poduzeća i građana, povećanju transparentnosti i povjerenja u društvo, poštenog tržišnog natjecanja na temelju koordiniranih i digitaliziranih sustava izvješćivanja. S druge strane, pozivam i na oprez kada govorimo o porezu na dodanu vrijednost jer radi se o bitnom i specifičnom alatu za državne proračune svih država članica.  Svjesni smo da su brojni ministri financija morali balansirati u proteklih gotovo dvije godine, da nije bilo lako, da su bili brojni izazovi, da je trebalo izaći ususret i malim i srednjim poduzećima, gospodarstvu općenito. Imali smo brojne nezaposlene, izazove, posebno recimo u Republici Hrvatskoj, u turizmu koja najveći dio svog proračuna puni iz turističkog sektora, tako da molim vas da razmislimo o tome. PDV zaista jest alat koji nama osigurava stabilnost i državnih financija.
Debate: Fair and simple taxation supporting the recovery strategy
Date: WEDNESDAY, 9 MARCH 2022
Speaker: Paul Tang
Political group: S-D
Country: Spain
Language: EN

Mr President, when preparing this debate, I thought, what a mess the VAT is. And I was last year approached by a small business owner, she organises one-off events across Europe and she faces a different nightmare every time. Endless forms in German or in Spanish, piles of documents to send around and high consultancy costs. For a one-off event in Rome, this amounted to EUR 11 000, 10% of her profits, and this I dare to say is the single biggest barrier to the EU’s internal market.  And at the same time, the mess enables fraud. Some EUR 50 billion, we know or is estimated, is lost each year due to cross-border VAT fraud. So we need to tackle also this crisis, this VAT crisis head on. And I congratulate Luděk Niedermayer and other shadows for drafting a report that does just that. His proposals can unleash a boost of economic activities for SMEs and tackle the outbursts of fraud in VAT.  And there’s more contributions in this report, but let me single out one, which I hold dear, and that is the EU Tax Observatory. What we need in order to have an informed policy debate is fact-based independent research. This is what we’re lacking. The EU Tax Observatory can help there, so we need to make it permanent.  To come back to where I started and President I will be quick – I want to tell the conference organiser that a problem will be addressed with this report. I am more confident in doing so.
Debate: Fair and simple taxation supporting the recovery strategy
Date: WEDNESDAY, 9 MARCH 2022
Speaker: Billy Kelleher
Political group: Renew
Country: Denmark
Language: EN

Mr President, I welcome the debate on this particular issue regarding the report on fair and simple taxation supporting recovery. And I suppose while we were publishing these reports and processing these reports the last number of weeks, we are now very much in a new dispensation, Commissioner. We face existential challenges in terms of the Ukrainian crisis, and it has changed all the basic metrics on which we were assessing growth into the future and making projections and predictions about how Europe would recover from the COVID pandemic. But we now, as I said, face a more serious crisis, the immediacy obviously of supporting Ukraine, addressing the refugee crisis and supporting the countries where refugees are spilling into the European Union so they can cope and provide humanitarian assistance.  But beyond that, when we talk about a fair and simple taxation supporting the recovery, we also have to acknowledge that we do need to do an awful lot more in terms of coordinating within the European Union, reducing the administrative burden so small and medium-sized businesses can trade across the entirety of the single market. And that is always, and consistently is, a significant challenge.  So we want to simplify the codes, but at the same time, I am challenged because I also have a difficulty with some of the tone and the content, not just necessarily of this report, but of the general content coming from the Commission, for example, around the issue of unanimity in taxation matters. And Commissioner Gentiloni, you have often raised this particular issue yourself. And I just highlight one instance that will create huge difficulties for Irish people in the short and medium term, that is the cost of home heating oil, a massive increase in home heating oil, and the Irish Government’s hands are tied because there is no flexibility around the issue of VAT in terms of home heating oil. So I bring that to your attention because I am concerned with this continual drift and encroachment of the independence of countries to set their own tax rates. In income tax specifically and other areas, I have a deep concern. But I make a plea on the issue of VAT that there would be flexibility, not just to Ireland, but to many Member States that will find that families will be significantly challenged because of the cost increases in home heating oil and many other fuel products.
Debate: Fair and simple taxation supporting the recovery strategy
Date: WEDNESDAY, 9 MARCH 2022
Speaker: Andżelika Anna Możdżanowska
Political group: ECR
Country: Germany
Language: PL

Panie Przewodniczący! Szanowni Państwo! Kryzys COVID-19, którego skutki będziemy odczuwać jeszcze długo, ale także tocząca się od 14 dni wojna w Ukrainie zapowiadają bardzo poważne trudności gospodarcze dla Europy.  Niedoskonałość obecnych systemów podatkowych, brak solidarności między państwami członkowskimi czy potrzeba nowej „architektury podatkowej” to główne z wyzwań nowej rzeczywistości, z jakimi musimy sobie pilnie poradzić.  Moim celem jest usprawnienie i zmodyfikowanie systemów podatkowych, by stały się sprawiedliwe, efektywne i przyjazne dla biznesu. Priorytetem jest przywrócenie równowagi fiskalnej i utrzymanie konkurencyjności międzynarodowej gospodarki. Sprawozdanie zawiera propozycje usprawniające funkcjonowanie europejskiego systemu podatkowego poprzez poprawę przepływu informacji czy uproszczenie obsługi podatnika. Sprawiedliwe rozstrzyganie sporów podatkowych, rozszerzanie automatycznej wymiany informacji czy e-fakturowanie, rozszerzenie zakresu platformy VAT - One Stop Shop i ujednolicenia deklaracji podatku dochodowego CIT pomogą zarówno przedsiębiorcom, jak i organom podatkowym. Kluczowe w tym zakresie są: solidarna współpraca organów podatkowych państw członkowskich oraz zaniechanie dziś bardzo szkodliwych praktyk podatkowych polegających na stosowaniu niejasnych kryteriów ulg i zwolnień wobec międzynarodowych korporacji. W istocie jest to okradanie jednych państw członkowskich przez drugie, na co nigdy nie możemy się zgodzić.  Jestem zdecydowaną zwolenniczką suwerenności państw członkowskich i sprzeciwiam się odchodzeniu od zasady jednogłośności w sprawach podatkowych. Stawiam tu na współpracę i wymianę informacji, a nie na odgórną harmonizację, tworzenie nowych przepisów i mnożenie regulacji. Każde zmiany istniejących reguł powinny być poprzedzone dokładną analizą skutków, jakie one przyniosą.  Ujednolicenie kryteriów rezydencji podatkowej jako działanie ingerujące w suwerenność państw członkowskich i wywieranie presji na Radę, by powróciła do projektów, które nie znalazły poparcia, uważam za szkodliwe i niepotrzebne. Dlatego chcę jeszcze raz powtórzyć i przypomnieć, że to głos krajów europejskich powinien być dla Parlamentu Europejskiego najważniejszy. Nie jesteśmy od tego, żeby „wiedzieć lepiej”, jak uszczęśliwić europejskich obywateli. Pamiętajmy, że jesteśmy tutaj, aby służyć ludziom, którzy nas wybrali.
Debate: Fair and simple taxation supporting the recovery strategy
Date: WEDNESDAY, 9 MARCH 2022
Speaker: Aurore Lalucq
Political group: S-D
Country: France
Language: FR

Monsieur le Président, Monsieur le Commissaire, chers collègues, ce rapport part d’un constat implacable: l’incidence fiscale, je cite, s’est déplacée de la fortune vers le revenu, du capital vers le revenu du travail et la consommation, des entreprises multinationales vers les PME, du secteur financier vers l’économie réelle, avec un déplacement de la charge fiscale des plus mobiles vers les contribuables les moins mobiles. Il liste des propositions pour inverser cette situation et je tiens à féliciter le rapporteur pour cela, ainsi que pour l’ambiance de travail, qui semble avoir été très bonne et très constructive lors des différentes négociations. TVA, BEFIT, réflexion sur la question des PME... Tout cela va dans le bon sens, mais je pense qu’aujourd’hui, le contexte a changé. L’Europe a changé en moins d’une semaine. On parle désormais d’Europe de la défense, de la nécessité de sortir d’urgence des énergies fossiles, d’inflation, de crise économique, de crises sociales.  Je crois que si nous voulons pouvoir aider l’économie sans alourdir, justement, la question de la dette, il va falloir briser encore une fois un certain nombre de tabous, notamment le tabou fiscal dont nous débattons ici. Avoir une liste sérieuse, robuste, des paradis fiscaux, avoir peut-être de nouvelles formes d’impôts de solidarité. Et puis briser un ultime tabou, qui nous empêche d’avancer d’un point de vue fiscal: la question de l’unanimité.
Debate: Fair and simple taxation supporting the recovery strategy
Date: WEDNESDAY, 9 MARCH 2022
Speaker: Martin Hlaváček
Political group: Renew
Country: Bulgaria
Language: CS

Pane předsedající, pane komisaři, pane zpravodaji, kvalitní daňový systém je základem fungující a důvěryhodné ekonomiky. Jednoduchost, efektivita a spravedlnost jsou klíčové prvky. To je zásadní v zotavování po COVID-19, ale i v dnešní době bezpečnostní krize. Neměli bychom proto s některými otázkami otálet. Systém DPH musí být přizpůsoben 21. století. V souvislosti se současnou krizí by členské státy také měly mít maximální rozsah daňových opatření a flexibilitu, která jim umožní efektivně pomáhat. Komise by měla předložit návrh směrnice o výměně informací o kryptoaktivech (DAC 8). Komise by měla také co nejrychleji předložit zjednodušující a modernizující pravidla, tzv. balíček DPH pro digitální věk. Jakákoliv práce na režimu DPH musí mít za cíl zlepšení právního rámce, a nikoliv vytvářet nové daňové komplikace. Měli bychom řešit i téma jednotné daňové registrace. Členské státy by měly mít jistotu, že příslušná pravidla pro výběr daní budou fungovat. Proto je férové, aby jejich úprava byla kompromisem všech. Na to by se nemělo zapomínat. Dobré řešení je takové, které podporují všichni. Volání po odklonu od jednomyslnosti je pouze alibistickou rezignací na hledání nejlepšího řešení.
Debate: Fair and simple taxation supporting the recovery strategy
Date: WEDNESDAY, 9 MARCH 2022
Speaker: Marc Angel
Political group: S-D
Country: Luxembourg
Language: EN

Mr President, secure tax revenues and fair and simple taxation are crucial underpinnings of a strong recovery. They contribute to achieving our far-reaching ambitions, including social justice. All Member States must continue to fight against tax evasion, tax avoidance and tax fraud because that undermines tax revenue needed to build a better future for our citizens and hinder fair competition and functioning social systems. We should also ensure that our tax systems do not disproportionately tax labour, and therefore we need a fair balance between taxation of labour and capital, and we must ensure that multinational companies are properly taxed. I fully support the efforts to update international tax rules, notably through the two-pillar solution of the OECD/G20 agreement. Better cooperation between national tax authorities and increased transparency will also be necessary. The excellent report we debate today proposes pertinent recommendations to the Commission on fair and simple taxation. I am concerned, however, that future good initiatives risk getting stuck in the Council. We should therefore consider rethinking the requirement for unanimity on tax matters in the Council, as the citizens who are participating in the Conference on the Future for Europe recommend us in their written texts.
Debate: Fair and simple taxation supporting the recovery strategy
Date: WEDNESDAY, 9 MARCH 2022
Speaker: Paolo Gentiloni
Language: EN

I am also convinced that the situation we are in with this new crisis of the war on our borders is bringing a couple of things that we have to take into account. First, we will need a lot of public spending in the coming years for several issues. Second, the protection of our single market against distortion is also the protection of our strength and of the model that we want to support against this kind of aggression. So I think that the importance of this work for a simpler and fairer taxation system is also a way to understand the situation we are in and to respond to this crisis.
Debate: Fair and simple taxation supporting the recovery strategy
Date: WEDNESDAY, 9 MARCH 2022
Speaker: Enikő Győri
Political group: NI
Country: Luxembourg
Language: HU

Büszkén mondhatom azt is, hogy Magyarországon az áfa adórés mára 9%-ra csökkent. Ezt pedig három fontos kormányzati fellépés segítette: az online pénztárgépek, az elektronikus közútiáruforgalom-ellenőrző rendszer és az online számlázási rendszer bevezetése. Elutasítom azonban a jelentésnek az uniós szerződéseket támadó részeit. Újra emlékeztetném baloldali képviselőtársaimat, hogy az adópolitikai döntések tagállami hatáskörbe tartoznak. Ismét felhívnám a figyelmet, hogy az adóharmonizáció az egész Unió versenyképességének csökkenését eredményezné. Kérem tisztelt képviselőtársaimat, hogy tartsák tiszteletben a szerződéseket és csak olyan szabályokat, jelentéseket alkossunk ebben a Házban, amelyek ezekben a nehéz időkben is az európai ipar versenyképességét segítik, nem pedig az ellen hatnak.
Debate: European Withholding Tax framewor
Date: WEDNESDAY, 9 MARCH 2022
Speaker: Othmar Karas
Country: Germany
Language: DE

Als nächster Punkt der Tagesordnung folgt die Aussprache über den Bericht von Pedro Marques im Namen des Ausschusses für Wirtschaft und Währung über einen Europäischen Rahmen für die Quellenbesteuerung (
Debate: European Withholding Tax framewor
Date: WEDNESDAY, 9 MARCH 2022
Speaker: Isabel Benjumea Benjumea
Political group: PPE
Country: Spain
Language: ES

En el actual contexto socioeconómico marcado por los últimos coletazos de la COVID y por la inestabilidad geopolítica que la invasión rusa en Ucrania está provocando, sin lugar a dudas, se hace evidente que la Unión Europea debe convertirse, ahora más que nunca, en una región fuerte a nivel económico, capaz de competir en la esfera internacional. Este informe es un buen instrumento para la consecución de tal objetivo.  Necesitamos establecer un marco europeo para la retención fiscal que fomente la integración de los mercados e incentive las inversiones transfronterizas. De este modo, el establecimiento de este marco europeo permitirá avanzar hacia la tan necesaria Unión de los Mercados de Capitales, donde nuestras empresas e inversores puedan operar con libertad y sin trabas burocráticas.  Por este motivo, dicha Unión es el ámbito en el que se debe promover que los Estados miembros modifiquen sus marcos fiscales nacionales con dos objetivos: en primer lugar, aligerar la carga fiscal asociada a las inversiones transfronterizas con especial impacto en los inversores minoristas y en las pymes; y, en segundo lugar, evitar la doble imposición y la mal llamada armonización fiscal, que no es otra cosa que el intento de subir los tipos mínimos impositivos en todos los países.  Por estos motivos, celebro la existencia de este informe como punto de partida para que en el Parlamento Europeo sigamos trabajando para lograr la verdadera Unión de los Mercados de Capitales, que incentive oportunidades de inversión a largo plazo, ayude a los ciudadanos de la Unión a obtener mejores rendimientos de sus ahorros y, por último, haga de la Unión Europea la región más competitiva y atractiva para inversores y empresas internacionales.
Debate: European Withholding Tax framewor
Date: WEDNESDAY, 9 MARCH 2022
Speaker: Aurore Lalucq
Political group: S-D
Country: France
Language: FR

Il nous rappelle à cette occasion – et nous nous rappelons à cette occasion – d’un braquage à 140 milliards d’euros, d’après les dernières estimations, le plus grand braquage européen. Les victimes: les États, nous, les citoyens; les impliqués: les avocats, des banques; le nom du montage: les arbitrages de dividendes.  Premier type de schéma: CumCum. C’est simple: pour échapper à la taxe sur les dividendes, les propriétaires étrangers de titres cotés en bourse se débarrassent de leurs titres au bon moment. Juste au moment où ils doivent payer l’impôt, certaines banques les récupèrent contre une commission, puis les leur redonnent. Deuxième type de fraude: CumEx. Là, c’est le jackpot, puisque non seulement les propriétaires de titres ne payent pas d’impôt, mais en plus, ils se font rembourser des impôts imaginaires qu’ils n’ont jamais payés.  Sans les lanceurs d’alerte, sans un consortium de journalistes, nous n’aurions pas été au courant de toute cette situation. Et c’est exactement pour lutter contre ce type de fraude – et bien d’autres encore probablement que nous ne connaissons pas – que la retenue à la source prend tout son sens, qu’on en comprend l’utilité et qu’on en comprend aussi la dimension politique. Merci donc à Pedro Marques pour sa constance sur ce sujet. Merci pour ces propositions éminemment politiques.  Nous attendons maintenant de la Commission qu’elle s’en saisisse et qu’elle suive les recommandations de ce rapport, y compris sur l’échange d’informations et sur la question du minimum d’imposition effectif pour les dividendes.
Debate: European Withholding Tax framewor
Date: WEDNESDAY, 9 MARCH 2022
Speaker: Billy Kelleher
Political group: Renew
Country: Denmark
Language: EN

And we need to ensure that criminals can be identified and brought to justice, and that is where we have a significant challenge within many Member States. The political will, the legislation, the enforcement, the effort of the system to ensure that those that are caught in tax evasion are prosecuted. We do have, by and large, two rules. One’s for smaller criminals and those that fly private jets and are very often swanning around in the finest resorts in their yachts. Yet no sanctions taken against people who wilfully abuse our tax laws.  Another more positive aim of the reform is to simplify and streamline the reclaiming of withholding tax. And this was obviously an issue that was brought to our attention when we spoke to many of the experts in this particular area. Many of them stressed that it was burdensome, the administrative procedures across Member States were very difficult and hard to understand, and that they didn’t link into each other from a digital point of view. So we do need to digitise and when we talk again about digital Europe in the area of tax authorities talking to each other, being able to relay live information, transactions across Member States, the administration of taxation itself, we do have to embrace that concept of digitisation.  And while I’m often critical of the Commission and people in this House with regard to Article 116 about rates of taxation and about the sovereignty of countries in terms of striking rates in taxation, we still have the opportunity – and in my view the obligation – to ensure that we share information, that we pool information, so that there is no hiding place for those that want to abuse our complex tax laws that are in various Member States.  So we do need to simplify the overall taxation code, and I welcome this particular report. I think it is a very inclusive report. It takes into account a lot of the views expressed by the various groups. But more importantly, the overall framework of taxation referred to in Pillar I and Pillar II needs also to be transposed to ensure that we have an effective modern taxation system for the EU in the years ahead.