Note: This is the english text of an invited Op-Ed that appeared in El-Mundo, one of Spain\'s leading newspapers on Sunday the 11th of September
With Spanish and Italian borrowing costs staying stubbornly high, an increasing possibility of the collapse of the new Greek debt deal agreed just in July and the collapse of growth in Germany and France the Euro area is now in the grip of a serious systemic crisis.
How we got from what started out as a fiscal problem in one of the smaller economies in the Euro area, Greece, to this systemic crisis is a tale of bad politics and bad economics. EU leaders and institutions have failed its citizens repeatedly in the past three years. Sensible policies such as reducing the stock of Greek debt, forcing a greater and faster recapitalization of EU banks and designing a bigger and more flexible European Financial Stability Fund from the outset were rejected by the European Council, Commission or Central Bank, sometimes by all institutions at once.
The EU, in common with other major economies of the world, loses a significant amount of potential tax revenue every year to tax evasion and tax avoidance. Some EU-wide estimates are as high as 500 billion – 1,000 billion Euros annually.
This tax loss takes two major forms 1) domestic and international. Domestic tax losses come about when the taxable funds are not shipped overseas but stay within the country. This form of tax loss is on the decline as the increasingly electronic nature of financial transactions and an economy that is less and less cash oriented make domestic avoidance harder.
At the same time, tax flight, the loss of tax revenues related to cross border flows of funds, has been rising rapidly.
Re-Define Commentary on proposed Private Sector Involvement in Greece The discussion on private sector involvement in Greece has grabbed many headlines over the past few months. Now that a decision has been taken at the Euro area leaders' summit yesterday, let us see what this really means. The first thing to consider is, whether one believes that the Greek debt burden is sustainable or not.
Please click below to see an archived webcast of the European Parliament Testimony of Re-Define Managing Director Sony Kapoor on Financial Transaction Taxes. This hearing was conducted by the full ECON committee on the 2nd of December 2009.
1 hour 55 min ago —
To undermine everyone else? “@michaelhewson: *FAYMANN SAYS AUSTRIA WILL WORK CLOSELY WITH LUXEMBOURG ON TAX”
2 hours 5 min ago —
#TaxHaven reform is critical for those who care abt 1 #Corruption 2 #CapitalFlight 3 #WelfareState 4 #Development 5 #FinStability 6 #Crime
2 hours 15 min ago —
Agreed! “@DPJHodges: Labour letting Ed do a power-point presentation is like No.10 letting Cam do a photo op sitting on a horse.”
2 hours 27 min ago —
If you need to invoke #morality to ensure that companies pay their taxes and banks act sensibly, you have a problem, not banks & companies!
2 hours 50 min ago —
Criticism of #Apple & #Starbucks notwithstanding, I am one of those who believes that the #TaxAvoidance prob is a failure of govts not corps
Note: This is the english text of an invited Op-Ed that appeared in El-Mundo, one of Spain\'s leading newspapers on Sunday the 11th of September.jpg)
The EU, in common with other major economies of the world, loses a significant amount of potential tax revenue every year to tax evasion and tax avoidance. Some EU-wide estimates are as high as 500 billion – 1,000 billion Euros annually. .jpg)
Re-Define Commentary on proposed Private Sector Involvement in Greece The discussion on private sector involvement in Greece has grabbed many headlines over the past few months. Now that a decision has been taken at the Euro area leaders' summit yesterday, let us see what this really means. The first thing to consider is, whether one believes that the Greek debt burden is sustainable or not.