EU set to clamp down on tax dodging

Tax dodging causes the EU to lose around €1 trillion of income each year, the president of the European Council said yesterday as he announced that EU leaders would discuss the issue at a summit next month.

This haemorrhage of tax revenues is equivalent to the entire annual economic output of Spain, and far exceeds the total of about €400bn committed to the bailouts of eurozone member states Greece, Ireland, Portugal and Cyprus.

“We must seize the increased political momentum to address this critical problem,” Herman Van Rompuy, who chairs meetings of EU leaders, said in a statement broadcast on the internet.