During the European elections campaign most of the political parties pledged to make corporations pay their fair share. However, the governments of Germany, Sweden, Ireland, Luxembourg, Austria, Hungary, and the Czech Republic are currently blocking a key instrument to fight the tax avoidance of Apple, IKEA & Co: public country-by-country reporting. Real corporate tax transparency would oblige big companies to publish where they pay taxes, making them think twice before engaging in dodgy deals to avoid taxes.

Every year, the Member States of the European Union lose billions of euros to tax avoidance of big corporations. But instead of supporting tax transparency, EU governments are trying to bury the reform. Finland is taking over the EU Presidency on the 1st of July and should make tax transparency a priority as a first step towards greater tax justice.

The message of the European elections is clear: citizens favour a strengthened and fairer Europe! To promote tax justice, we need to end tax avoidance by multinationals by adopting real tax transparency. Therefore please support our call on EU governments to stop blocking this crucial tax transparency reform and on Finland to make public country-by-country reporting a priority in the Council without delay. We have a right to know because if big companies don’t pay citizens end up paying the bill!