Matt Carthy (GUE/NGL), in writing. ‒ I abstained on this report because while it contains several important and positive aspects aimed at tackling tax evasion and avoidance, and aggressive tax planning, it also has several limitations.

The report was the first legislative proposal in the Anti-Tax Avoidance Package aimed at obliging multinational enterprises (MNEs) with total revenue of €750 million or more to file a country-by-country report in the Member State where the ultimate parent company is resident for tax purposes and for this data to be automatically exchanged between Member States.

I fully support measures aimed at tackling tax avoidance but believe Member States should have primary competence over tax policy, and this report proposed that the Commission should be associated with the automatic exchange of information between Member States.

Another problem with the report was that I believe the threshold for MNEs’ revenue should be lower than $750m in order for them to be obliged to file country-by-country reports. The report also does not introduce a public disclosure obligation for the MNEs to make their country-by-country reports public. I voted in favour of an amendment calling for such public disclosure.