Belgium has had a bit of a bad rap recently, having been very publicly rebuked by the European Commission for allowing some multinationals to pay not very much tax; it could do with a bit of a pick-me-up. So Belgium, congratulations on finally coming to your senses and recognizing the flaws in the insane EU financial transactions tax proposal.
When you think about it, the very reason why we’re having the debate about corporate tax avoidance is because of the bankers. When everything was going swimmingly, in the Halcyon days before the financial crisis, fewer people seemed to care how much tax big companies were paying, or, to be more accurate, the media wasn’t that interested in the subject so people didn’t read or hear about it as much. Now, it sticks in the throats of many that ordinary taxpayers are paying to clean up the mess the bankers left behind. Supposedly, the FTT is meant as a sort of compensation scheme — a small tax on the world of finance, to be passed on to needy European governments. But it may well cause a whole load of collateral economic damage to achieve this.

For more information on this, and other topical international tax matters, please visit: https://www.cchgroup.com/roles/corporations/international-solutions/research/global-tax-weekly-a-closer-look

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