Dear Sirs,

 We, the undersigned parliamentarians, are deeply concerned by recent revelations from the ‘Paradise Papers’ investigation. 

 We regret that some governments, not least the British government, have failed to learn the lessons from the previous ‘LuxLeaks’ and ‘Panama Papers’ scandals. In particular, we are concerned that insufficient progress has been made to ensure that investment vehicles like trusts are sufficiently transparent. We are also concerned that tax havens, like those involved in the Paradise Papers, have been able to continue with highly opaque company and trust registration models. It has also been disappointing to see some countries try to block measures against tax havens like the EU’s blacklist of tax havens.

 We call together for all governments to place renewed emphasis on tax transparency and fully implement Public Country-by-Country Reporting. In particular, we call for information on trusts to be made publicly available, and for all tax havens to be forced to automatically share information with international tax authorities. We also call for stronger regulation of intermediaries, including penalties for those proven to be involved in tax evasion, aggressive tax avoidance or money laundering.

 Failure to act against aggressive tax avoidance and evasion is depriving public services of desperately-needed funding. It also enables some multinational companies to unfairly undercut many small and medium-sized businesses. The Paradise Papers must act as a wake-up call to deal with industrial-scale tax dodging, once and for all.

 

Anneliese Dodds MP, United Kingdom

Paul Tang MEP, Netherlands

Evelyn Regner MEP, Austria

Jeppe Kofod MEP, Denmark

John Howarth MEP, United Kingdom

Segio Cofferati MEP, Italy

Hugues Bayet MEP, Belgium

Pervenche Berès MEP, France

Ana Gomes MEP, Portugal

Neena Gill MEP, United Kingdom

Jakob von Weizsäcker MEP, Germany

Udo Bullmann MEP, Germany

Roberto Gualtieri MEP, Italy

Peter Simon MEP, Germany

Dietmar Köster MEP, Germany

Virginie Rozière MEP, France

Ramón Jáuregui Atondo MEP, Spain

Nessa Childers MEP, Ireland

Péter Niedermüller MEP, Hungary

Elly Schlein MEP, Italy

Emmanuel Maurel MEP, France

Olle Ludvigsson MEP, Sweden

Eva Kaili MEP, Greece

Wajid Khan MEP, United Kingdom

Catherine Stihler MEP, United Kingdom

Tibor Szanyi MEP, Hungary

Enrico Gasbarra MEP, Italy

Juan Fernando Lopez Aguilar, Spain

Tanja Fajon MEP, Slovenia

C?t?lin Ivan MEP, Romania

Luigi Morgano MEP, Italy

Andrea Cozzolino MEP, Italy

Henk Nijboer MP, Netherlands