The Netherlands remains one of the most important countries around the world for tax evasion. This says the Tax Justice Network organization in its biennial ranking of tax havens. According to the index, only the British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands and Bermuda play a greater role in tax evasion than the Netherlands.
To compile the arrangement, the researchers looked at the extent to which the nation’s tax laws allow companies to avoid taxes. They also examined the amount of money flowing from multinational corporations across the country through the charts.
From this combination, the researchers compiled the ranking, with the Netherlands ranked fourth, followed by Switzerland and Luxembourg. In the first index published by the organization in 2019, the Netherlands also ranked fourth.
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“The fact that the Netherlands is now one of the largest tax havens around the world is an embarrassment,” says Arnold Merces, the Netherlands’ tax justice coordinator. “This confirms our view that previous governments have taken half measures against tax evasion. This means that the Netherlands is not only losing government revenue, but also many other countries.”
The new government should make the tax evasion approach a priority, according to Markis, while “allowing people to hear less about the big companies arguing over and over again for more tax benefits.” A broad coalition of civil society organizations has already launched a petition and wrote a statement containing concrete proposals to tackle tax evasion.
There is also a lot of interest in the topic in politics. According to Tax Justice, five political parties, ChristenUnie, GroenLinks, PvdA, Party for the Animals and SP, have signed the statement. The organization also notes that almost all political parties call in their electoral declarations to increase corporate taxes. However, according to Tax Justice, that is not the answer. “As long as large companies can benefit from all kinds of tax evasion schemes, they will not actually pay that rate.”
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