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PN MEPs Warn Tax Harmonisation Will Harm Malta As Their EPP Group Welcomes Landmark Global Deal

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Malta’s two PN MEPs have reaffirmed their position against tax harmonisation after the EPP Group they form part of in Brussels welcomed a global minimum taxation proposal by the G7 group of advanced economies.

“Our position has not changed and will not change”, Roberta Metsola and David Casa told Lovin Malta in a joint statement. “PN MEPs have always been consistent with our view that taxation should remain, as far as possible, a question of national competence. Our voting record reflects this.”

Metsola and Casa highlighted that while some EU member states were attempting to create further pressure towards encouraging more harmonised tax regulations across the EU, “any such changes require unanimity by member States and therefore Malta’s assent”.

So far, they also noted that the Maltese government has largely backed the PN position in not agreeing to tax harmonisation.

“This is positive and we urge Government to continue to back our arguments and not send out any mixed messages.”

“We remain convinced that tax harmonisation is not the correct way forward for Europe, because inevitably in any such system, it is our Union’s smaller economies that will be forced to bear the brunt.”

The joint statement went on to emphasise that the EU still does have “a big role to play in combatting tax evasion, taxation issues like this are best left up to Member States”.

Yesterday, G7 finance ministers met in London and reached a landmark agreement that multinationals should pay more in the countries where they do business and that a global minimum corporate tax rate of at least 15% to avoid countries undercutting each other with low tax offers.

Tech giants that are most likely to be impacted by the new rules have welcomed the measures.

Ahead of the meeting, the European Parliament’s EPP Group, which both Casa and Metsola are a part of, called for an international tax deal to avoid “losing billions of Euros per year” to aggressive tax planning and tax avoidance.

“A minimum effective tax rate is on the table and any solution must be balanced: on the one hand, we have to stand for loyal tax competition and combat tax havens; and on the other hand, we have to preserve European companies’ competitiveness,” their statement reads.

This article is part of a content series called Ewropej. This is a multi-newsroom initiative part-funded by the European Parliament to bring the work of the EP closer to the citizens of Malta and keep them informed about matters that affect their daily lives. This article reflects only the author’s view. The European Parliament is not responsible for any use that may be made of the information it contains.

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