ZEW Lunch Debate in Brussels – "MaTax Policy Meeting" Special Edition Addresses Corporate Tax Avoidance

Multinationals use tax havens and legal loopholes in national legislations to reduce their fiscal burden, i.e., in other words, to avoid taxes. The most recent example is the "LuxLeaks" scandal, the revelation of a profitable tax regime for multinational companies in Luxembourg. Setting up an action plan on corporate taxation, the EU Commission now intends to tackle tax avoidance. Is that an efficient path to choose? What are the strengths and weaknesses of the proposed reform? The implications of corporate tax avoidance and adequate countermeasures will be at the centre of discussion at the ZEW Lunch Debates special edition on June 16, 2015, at the Representation of the State of Baden-Württemberg to the European Union in Brussels.

Aggressive tax planning by multinationals equally affects treasury and tax payers at the national level. It is hence not only the EU that is under pressure to act, regarding the self-imposed principle of fair taxation. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has also identified the need for action and announced the presentation of an action plan by October 2015. With the European and international reform proposals on corporate taxation on the table, the key question is: which measures should be given priority in order to handle the situation? The following panellists will discuss the issue at the "MaTax Policy Meeting" special edition within the framework of the ZEW Lunch Debates:

• Professor Katharina Finke, Deputy Head of the Research Department "Corporate Taxation and Public Finance" at the Centre for European Economic Research (ZEW) and co-coordinator of the Leibniz ScienceCampus "MannheimTaxation" (MaTax)
• Thomas Hemmelgarn, Head of Sector at the European Commission's Directorate-General for Taxation and Customs Union
• Michael Theurer MEP, Vice-Chair of the FDP delegation in the European Parliament, chairman of the European Parliament's Budgetary Accounts Committee, co-rapporteur of the special committee of inquiry into the LuxLeaks tax affair
• Berthold Welling, Head of the Tax and Financial Policy Unit of the Federation of German Industries (BDI) and Executive Board Member of the Berlin Institute for Finances and Taxation (ifst)

ZEW President Professor Clemens Fuest will open the event with an introduction into the topic and will chair the panel discussion subsequent to Professor Katharina Finke’s talk on the question, "What is the scale of tax avoidance?".

Since its launch in 2014, the ZEW Lunch Debate series has provided a midday platform for experts to discuss current economic challenges facing Europe. Events within the series take place in Brussels and present an opportunity for controversial, open and committed debate.

The Leibniz ScienceCampus MaTax is a joint project of ZEW and the University of Mannheim established in April 2014. Research within MaTax aims to provide scientific contributions to the design of a sustainable tax system which helps to meet new economic and social challenges. Currently, 15 professors and 60 up-and-coming researchers cooperate in the MaTax framework.