Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2001-06-12-Speech-2-307"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| dcterms:Language | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.20010612.14.2-307"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:spokenAs | |
| lpv:translated text |
"Madam President, please accept my apologies for taking the floor after the Commissioner. I am the unwitting victim of information technology, as I had the timetable up on screen and I thought that I was due to speak at around 9.45 a.m. Thank you for allowing me to speak.
The current situation in the fifteen countries of the European Union is, in truth, absurd. There are 15 regulations and 25 different types of compulsory statements on the invoicing of VAT, but what is unfair is the very existence of VAT, and not the way in which it is invoiced.
Although we shall be voting against this report, it is not in order to oppose harmonisation, but in order to express our opposition to the very existence of value added tax, and, more generally, to any indirect tax on consumption.
It is a particularly unfair tax, because everyone has to pay it, including those who only earn a modest wage, even those who are living on unemployment benefit. The consumer becomes a tax payer simply by making a purchase, even if it is just a loaf of bread. What is worse is that VAT is not calculated according to the income of the tax payer. A billionaire will pay tax at exactly the same rate as an employee earning the lowest income.
In a country such as France, VAT makes up almost three quarters of the government’s revenue, in other words, twice the amount of tax on salaries. This means that it is the working people within the population, those on lower incomes and resources who are paying the greater share of taxes.
It is unfair in itself, and all the more so because, with regard to State spending, on the other hand, there is a trend to increase spending to favour large employers and the wealthy, to the detriment of public services. Whereas taxation should help to reduce the gap between the richest and the poorest, it is actually making it wider.
We are in favour of phasing out all forms of indirect taxation throughout Europe and of replacing it with a consistent increase of tax on company profits, as well as a tax on income, which increases steeply, particularly on high income from capital. This would also have the added advantage of solving the problem of harmonising invoicing which is of concern to the Council."@en1
|
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples