Lawmakers call for Financial Transaction Tax and a Digital Levy to meet shared EU COVID debts
The European Parliament has backed a report to implement a host of new taxes to help meet the €800m post-pandemic economic EU recovery and green and digital transformation plans. The taxes include:
- Financial Transaction Tax
- Digital services levy (if OECD Pillar 1 tax reforms fail)
- Excise duties on share buybacks
- Common withholding tax framework
- Taxes on cryptoassets
These taxes would add to the EU’s ‘own resources’ for spend and investment. The major current source for this is a minor share of member states’ VAT receipts.
However, ideas for EU wealth taxes and excess profits taxes were voted down by member of Parliament. The parliament also suggested the 27-nation EU get cash from a tax on member states that have the highest gender pay gap, do not recycle enough biowaste, or which waste the most food.
Only the European Commission may propose EU taxes. And they will need to assess the wishes of member state governments before putting forward any such taxes.
