Yahoo – AFP,
Alex PIGMAN with Katy LEE in Paris, 7 November 2017
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| Protesters in France last week carried signs urging Apple to "pay your taxes" in a reference to its dispute with EU authorities over back taxes |
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.
But EU
Economic Affairs Commissioner Pierre Moscovici, who is leading the blacklist
effort, said he wanted it in place by the end of the year.
"It
must be credible and up to the challenge," he said.
Sources
said EU officials have warned about 60 countries that their tax policies may be
at risk of blacklisting, demanding further information before November 18.
It is the latest
international effort to clamp down on tax avoidance -- increasingly seen as a
moral issue -- following a similar move by the OECD group of wealthy nations to
compile a list of "uncooperative tax havens".
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A guide to
the individuals and companies embroiled in the Paradise Papers
|
Private
jets, Russia ties
In Britain,
the BBC and The Guardian reported that Hamilton avoided paying taxes on his
private jet using an elaborate scheme now under investigation by tax
authorities.
Documents
showed that the driver received a £3.3 million ($4.3 million, 3.7 million
euros) tax refund in 2013 after his luxury plane was imported into the Isle of
Man, a low-tax British dependency.
Hamilton's
representatives could not be reached by AFP for comment.
Another
report in French newspaper Le Monde said sportswear giant Nike used a Dutch loophole
to reduce its tax rate in Europe to just two percent, compared with a 25
percent average for European companies.
Nike, which
says it acted legally, managed to save taxes by using an offshore subsidiary,
the report said.
Separately,
the documents showed that US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross had a 31 percent
stake in shipping firm Navigator Holdings, a partnership with Russian energy
giant Sibur.
That
company is partially owned by Vladimir Putin's son-in-law Kirill Shamalov and
by Gennady Timchenko, the Russian president's friend and business partner who
is subject to US sanctions.
The cabinet
member's ties to Russian entities raise questions over potential conflicts of
interest, and whether they undermine sanctions on Moscow over the war in
Ukraine.
Ross has
denied any wrongdoing, telling Bloomberg News he had already been planning to
sell his stake, while Russian politicians stressed that the deals were legal.
 |
Lewis
Hamilton reportedly avoided paying taxes on his private jet
|
'Ticking
time bomb'
Irish
singer Bono, meanwhile -- an ardent anti-poverty campaigner -- said he was
"distressed" by documents showing he invested in a Lithuanian
shopping centre which may have broken tax rules.
Earlier
reports highlighted that about £10 million of the private funds of Britain's
Queen Elizabeth II were placed in the Cayman Islands and Bermuda.
Her estate
emphasised that her investments were "fully audited and legitimate".
Europe's
anti-trust chief Margrethe Vestager said the leaks served as additional evidence
that the business world needed to be more open.
"We
cannot... rely on leaks or investigative work, we need more transparence,"
she told a meeting in Lisbon that brought together technology investors and
entrepreneurs.
"That's
why we ask that every company reveal the totality of the information concerning
its presence in every country," she added.
The
Paradise Papers documents, which are mainly from the offshore law firm Appleby,
have been shared with international media via the US-based International
Consortium of Investigative Journalists.
Appleby has
denounced the release as a "serious criminal act" and stressed that
its "overriding objective" is to comply with regulations around the
world.
#ParadisePaper leaks prompts EU to draw up blacklist of tax havens https://t.co/H24zKC0cGc pic.twitter.com/jw4s8MLUYv— AFP news agency (@AFP) November 7, 2017
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