Belgium Calls For EU Tax Amnesty

by Ulrika Lomas, Tax-News.com, Brussels

27 January 2003

Speaking to the Belgian media on Thursday, Finance Minister, Didier Reynders called for an Europe-wide tax amnesty in order to allow EU citizens to wipe the slate clean prior to the implementation of the EU agreement on non-resident savings interest taxation.

Speaking to financial weekly, Trends following last Tuesday's Ecofin meeting, Mr Reynders cited the success of similar revenue-boosting initiatives in Italy and Portugal:

'We should give taxpayers the opportunity to fix their mistakes from the past during a certain period of time - probably six months but no longer than one year,' the Belgian Finance Minister suggested, arguing that:

'Now we're at the eve of a joint approach for the future, the time is ripe to set up a uniform settlement for the past.'

Mr Reynders told the newspaper that were such an amnesty plan implemented across the European Union, he would use Belgium's share of the additional revenue generated to reduce the country's fiscal deficit and secure future financing for the welfare system in the face of an ageing population.

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