Tax justice

Responding to widespread anger about corporate tax avoidance and its impact on inequality and poverty, and concerns that current tax reform processes are inadequate, a new nonpartisan body—the Independent Commission for the Reform of International Corporate Taxation (ICRICT)—has been established to propose reforms from the perspective of the public interest.

Nine international experts, including Green MEP Eva Joly and Joseph Stiglitz, will sit on this commission, with its first meeting scheduled for 18 and 19 March in New York. 

Following the announcement, Greens/EFA Co-President Philippe Lamberts stated:

"On behalf of the Greens/EFA group, I am proud to hear of Eva Joly's appointment to the Independent Commission of tax and development experts. It is all the more remarkable since she is the only European on a panel of international experts, including the Nobel Prize laureate Joseph Stiglitz.  

There are few people who, like Eva Joly, have had the experience of judging some of the biggest political-financial issues of the 1990s, including the Elf case.  

This nomination is also recognition of her tireless work on the practices of certain multinationals and their harmful effects on countries' national budgets and citizens, especially for those developing countries in which they are located. Eva Joly's expertise on corruption, financial flows, economic crime and development also means she is regularly consulted by various international bodies. She was also advisor to the special prosecutor for the Icelandic bank failure of 2008 as well as working as an international anti-corruption expert with the MEC (Independent Joint Anti-Corruption Monitoring and Evaluation Committee) in Afghanistan since 2012. 

With our political group having made the fight against tax optimisation and dumping one of its political priorities, this designation reinforces the credibility of our fight for tax justice.”

Eva Joly, Vice-President of the European Parliament's special committee on tax, commented:

“While fiscal policies affect all of society, the related debates have too long been considered the sole preserve of accountants and tax professionals. 

However, given the inequalities that these practices create, it is essential that the expertise be shared as widely as possible. Furthermore, unequivocal global action against these practices which have for too long deprived national budgets of vast amounts is a precondition to the success of the international negotiations on climate change and development.  

I am therefore delighted to be included among the nine commissioners tasked with developing recommendations for tax reforms intended to finance the United Nation's post-2015 development programme and contributing to the G20/OECD Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) initiative."

For more information on the ICRICT:  www.icrict.org

For the UN tax committee:  www.un.org/esa/ffd/tax/