Football Leaks

According to information obtained by the European Investigative Collaborations (EIC) consortium, several big football stars, including player Cristiano Ronaldo and manager Jose Mourinho, may have avoided large sums of tax through the use of tax havens.

Commenting on the reports, Green economic and finance spokesperson and member of the European Parliament’s inquiry committee on the Panama Papers Molly Scott Cato said:

“It is disappointing, if not surprising, to see the list of football stars caught avoiding paying tax continue to grow. But while it would be easy to focus on the greed of a handful of individuals, that would underestimate the scale of the problem.

“What we are seeing is evidence of a two speed tax system which allows the very rich to avoid paying their fair share, leaving everyone else to pay the social costs. It is no surprise to see that a company used in this deal is located in Ireland given their extremely low rate of corporate tax (12.5%). We need to bring an end to the race to the bottom on taxes, which is why the Greens have been calling for an EU-wide minimum rate of tax.

“The European Parliament is already investigating the Panama Papers, and as a member of the inquiry committee I will be pushing for these new revelations to be looked into as well. 

“The European Commission and Council must also take action. It is ridiculous to pretend that tax havens only exist outside the EU when scandal after scandal implicates Member States such as Ireland, the Netherlands and Luxembourg. The EU is currently screening third countries in order to establish a tax blacklist next year: we must look closer to home and apply the same criteria to Member States.”