Fair burden-sharing, but not at the expense of competitiveness

Report by MEP Enikő Győri

Today the European Parliament adopted a motion for a resolution on fair taxation in the digital and globalized economy. Fidesz MEP Enikő Győri labeled it timely for digital companies to take their fair share of the burden. She warned, however, that this could in no way endanger the competitiveness of the EU.

In her plenary speech, MEP Enikő Győri pointed out: “It is unacceptable that companies such as Google, Facebook or Amazon are paying negligible taxes while earning immense income. We are on the right track when it comes to the search for an international solution to guarantee their taxation, in a broader context than the EU. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) is an excellent platform for this”.

The OECD has put forward a two-pillar proposal, and we should fully support the first one, which would grant more taxing rights to the state where corporate clients are located, MEP Győri believes. On the other hand, she raised serious concerns about the second proposal, which would introduce a minimum tax. “There was no impact study whether such a measure would reduce our own competitiveness and fatten tax havens”, she stressed.
“In addition, it is regrettable that the text includes that tax policy should move towards majority voting and greater harmonization within the Union. This would reduce the chances of fair competition within the EU and would result in companies relocating in third countries. Jeopardizing the competitiveness is against the EU’s, thus the Hungarian interest as well, so the Hungarian EPP delegation did not support the motion for a resolution”, concluded her speech MEP Enikő Győri