The European Commission has criticized “tax havens” in the EU

A number of European countries, which are implementing aggressive tax policies were criticized. The European Commission says that they violate conditions for competition in the domestic market, informs “Investor”.

In the report of the European Commission, released on Wednesday, March 7th countries such as Belgium, Cyprus, Hungary, Ireland, Luxembourg, Malta and the Netherlands were criticized.

The tax policy of these countries “undermines justice and equal conditions for competition at our domestic market”,

said the European Commissioner for Economic and Monetary Affairs, Pierre Moscovici.

Last year, the EU finance ministers approved a blacklist of so-called “tax havens” that are used for evading tax payments. The list includes countries such as the United Arab Emirates, South Korea, Bahrain, Tunisia, and Panama. Samoa, Barbados, Grenada, Guam, Macao, Marshall Islands, Mongolia, Namibia, Palau, Saint Lucia, Samoa and Trinidad and Tobago have been also blacklisted. Another 47 states of the world are in the so-called “gray list”.

It should be noted that despite the seemingly united EU, tax policies of many countries are marked by relative freedom. It has been discussed in the Union because those countries which are not powerful producers and exporters have started the so-called tax business. They reduce a level of taxation in order to attract big companies. Such actions cause losses to other states due to the outflow of capital from their territories.

A situation with Ireland acted as a catalyst. It has one of the lowest tax rates in Europe, and it has provided significant tax incentives for Apple. As a result, the company has not paid about 13 billion euros.