Panama papers: Europe seeks tax deal to counter populists

The European Union unveiled a raft of measures to tackle tax evasion as finance chiefs attempted to wrestle the issue back from populist groups using the Panama leaks to argue governments turn a blind eye to inequality.

Panama papers: Europe seeks tax deal to counter populists 1461494164899

Panama papers: Europe seeks tax deal to counter populists 1461494164899

The EU's economy chiefs, buffeted by anti-establishment anger from London to Madrid, showed a united front at a two-day gathering of the ministers by agreeing to work on a stepped-up regime of tax transparency and tax-haven blacklists.

"The risk of populism is very real if we don't act forcefully enough or quickly enough," French Finance Minister Michel Sapin said in an interview in Amsterdam on Saturday.

"People will get the impression that we're supporting an unfair system, one with two different sets of rules. We can't be behind the curve on this."

The leak this month of millions of pages of financial records from the Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca, exposing billions of dollars hidden in tax havens around the world, comes as populist groups have made inroads at the ballot box with a mix of anti-elitism and criticism of austerity measures.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/business/panama-papers-europe-seeks-tax-deal-to-counter-populists-20160424-godpfr.html#ixzz46ovFmoos

Panama papers: Europe seeks tax deal to counter populists

Panama papers: Europe seeks tax deal to counter populists

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