ATHENS – Greece is already looking at the feasibility of heavily reducing the rate of corporate taxes paid in the country, as the government inches further down the path towards a budgetary surplus.

In a meeting between the Prime Minister of Greece Antonis Samaras and the Prime Minister of Ireland Enda Kenny on May 23rd in Athens, the Greek Prime Minister indicated that the country could see a drastic reduction in its corporate tax rate once the country’s financial situation improves further.

According to Antonis Samaras, Greece will model its economic recovery on the actions and steps taken by Ireland, saying that “…we will follow the exactly the same successful example set by Ireland — both for the EU presidency and an exit from the crisis.”

He elaborated on his plan, explaining t...

BRUSSELS – Taxing all of the hidden wealth and assets of the world could raise enough extra money to easily solve the global problem of poverty.

The world’s poverty problems could be solved entirely, if taxes were applied to capital and assets hidden away across the tax havens of the world, according to the results of new research released on May 22^nd by the international aid organisation Oxfam.

According to estimates prepared by Oxfam approximately USD 18.5 trillion worth of assets in capitals is currently stashed away in offshore jurisdictions, with approximately USD 12 trillion being held in EU tax havens, such as Luxembourg, Andorra or Malta.

Oxfam estimates that if the hidden assets were to be taxed at only 3...

BRUSSELS – The countries of the European Union need to work together to prevent tax evasion which is now costing as much as EUR 2 000 per person living in the EU.

On May 21st the European Parliament passed a new resolution to halve the “tax gap” in the EU by the year 2020.

The European Parliament currently estimates that the difference between the potential tax collections in Europe and the amount actually collected is about EUR 1 trillion, or an equivalent of about EUR 2 000 per person living in the EU.

The “tax gap” is primarily attributed to tax evasion committed by individuals and businesses, but also due to multinational businesses engaging in aggressive tax avoidance.

As part of the newly passed resolution, the European parliament agreed that the member states of the EU need ...

PARIS – Some households in France have been paying more taxes than they have actually earned in recent years, and thousands of other households payout more than three quarters of their income.

Over the weekend new information was released by the newspapers in France, claiming that in recent years some wealthy French households have faced income tax rates of more than 100 percent.

The exceptionally high tax rates were caused by a wealth levy which was imposed on households with assets valued in excess of EUR 1.3 million.

The tax was implemented in 2012 and applied for the 2011 fiscal year, and was intended to raise approximately EUR 2.3 billion in extra taxes for the year.

Due to the tax an estimated 8 010 households in France paid out an effective tax rate of more than 100 percent, while 9...