Raül Romeva i Rueda

Malgrat les promeses fetes en la darrera reunió del G20, l’abril
passat a Londres, el camí seguit fins ara en relació a la lluita contra els
paradisos fiscals és del tot decebedor. Som molta gent qui pensem que una
mesura indispensable per tal de fer front a la preocupant situació de l’economia
global avui passa per acabar amb els paradisos fiscals arreu. És per això que,
en el marc de la propera reunió del G20, que aquest cop tindrà lloc a Pittsburgh,
el 24 i 25 del present mes, alguns diputats i diputades ens hem sumat a la
iniciativa de l’ex magistrada anticorrupció i ara eurodiputada francesa per
Europe Ecologie, Eva Joly, cosignant una carta dirigida al President Obama en
la qual li demanem, entre d’altres coses, que es posicioni de maner ferma en
favor de tancar els paradisos fiscals ja que aquests estan posant en risc els
ingresos que molts governs necessiten per tal de poder dur a terme les polítiques
econòmiques i les inversions necessàries en temps de crisi com l’actual. En
concret, la carta diu així (segueix…)

Mister President Obama,

We, citizens and members of the
parliaments of several European countries and of the European Parliament, call
for your support to ensure the next G20 talks in Pittsburgh bring about
decisive progress in the fight against tax havens.

On 4th of May, you declared that
the American tax system was “full of corporate loopholes that make it perfectly
legal for companies to avoid paying their fair share.  It’s a tax code
that makes it all too easy for a number — a small number of individuals and
companies to abuse overseas tax havens to avoid paying any taxes at all”. We
suffer from this same issue in our own countries in Europe, and wish to put an
end to this situation without further ado.

As a measure to counter this
injustice, the G20 put considerable pressure on tax havens to sign “on request”
tax information exchange treaties in order that information be made more
readily available to the relevant tax authorities. This is a step forward, but
it remains insufficient. Often diverted from their orginal purpose, they can
even contribute to aggravating the issue.

To pursue tax evaders who refuse to
pay a fair contribution to society, these territories must be required to adopt
a system of automatic information exchange and must inform us every time one of
our citizens does business in their territory. Those who go there for
legitimate purposes will have nothing to fear.

Furthermore, international
corporations must implement “country-by-country reporting”, which would allow
the tax authorities to know the amount of their assets, their global income,
the number of people they employ, the profits they make and the taxes they pay
for each country in which they operate.  This will shed light on unlawful
behaviours. Belgium, South Korea, Norway, Sweden and the United Kingdom support
this initiative, which now needs your whole-hearted support.

In 1937, Roosevelt’s Secretary of
the Treasury Henry Morgenthau declared that “Taxes are what we pay for
civilized society. Too many citizens want the civilization at a discount”. We
are counting on your long-term commitment in the fight against tax havens in
order that every one of our citizens and companies pay their fair share to
society.

To fund our economic stimulus
plans, to foster investments, to fight against corruption and activities that
hinder the development of impoverished countries, and to support those hit by
the crisis, diverting funds that should serve the common good through tax
havens must be made impossible.

We are counting on your efforts at
the international level to bring down the barriers we have been fighting
against for so long.

Received,
Mister President Obama, our highest considerations.

Font foto: Eva Joly y José Bové.