EU pushes for tax blacklist after Paradise Papers leak – and 60 countries could be affected
Apple is the latest company to become caught up in the leaks, which show how the technology giant moved tens of billions of dollars from low-tax Ireland to Britain’s Channel Islands
The EU pushed on Tuesday for Europe to draw up a blacklist of tax havens after the “Paradise Papers” revealed loopholes used by Apple and Nike as well as celebrities including Formula One champion Lewis Hamilton.
While seeking to minimise taxes is not necessarily illegal, revelations from the 13.4 million leaked documents have already proved embarrassing to figures as diverse as U2 singer Bono and Queen Elizabeth II.
Apple is the latest company to become caught up in the leaks, which show how the technology giant moved tens of billions of dollars from low-tax Ireland to Britain’s Channel Islands when Dublin began tightening its laws in 2015.
But Apple said shifting the funds to the island of Jersey, which is largely exempt from EU tax regulations, did not save it any money.
The leaks – which shed further light on how the global elite manages its money after the Panama Papers and LuxLeaks scandal – were centre stage at Tuesday’s meeting of EU finance ministers in Brussels.
The EU has struggled for more than a year to finalise a list of non-EU tax havens, with smaller, low-tax nations such as Ireland, Malta and Luxembourg reluctant to scare companies away.
