Proposition 54K3510

Projet de loi portant assentiment à la Convention multilatérale pour la mise en oeuvre des mesures relatives aux conventions fiscales pour prévenir l'érosion de la base d'imposition et le transfert de bénéfices et à la Note explicative, faites à Paris le 24 novembre 2016.

General information ¶

Submitted by

MR Michel Ⅱ

Submission date

Feb. 4, 2019

Official page

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Status

Adopted

Requirement

Simple

Subjects

fiscal policy tax convention tax law international agreement

Voting ¶

Voted to adopt

Groen CD&V Vooruit Ecolo LE PS | SP DéFI ∉ Open Vld N-VA MR PVDA | PTB PP

Abstained from voting

VB

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Discussion ¶

March 21, 2019 | Plenary session (Chamber of representatives)

Full source

The rapporteur, Ms Grovonius, refers to her written report.

Mr. Speaker, when I entered the House thirty years ago as a young member of parliament, at the end of the legislature there was a very nice gesture of the colleagues towards a colleague who went to say goodbye to politics. In fact, many attempts were made, often through a compromise, to obtain the approval of a bill or proposal for which that colleague had been committed in the past period.

I thank the government, and more specifically the Minister of Foreign Affairs, for it is an incredible coincidence that today this bill is put to the vote by approving the multilateral agreement. After all, I had the privilege and pleasure, when this Minister of Foreign Affairs became Minister of Finance in 1999, very often to debate with him about the, in my opinion, nefaste role of tax havens and about the need in Belgium for other models of treaties to avoid double taxation — as the official name reads.

I crossed the deities with this minister very often between 1999 and 2011 because we had divergent opinions on this subject. Our then Minister of Finance thought that he should try to make Brussels a financial center, by having a network of treaties to avoid double taxation approved, and usually then through a model that allows a handy person to extract the tax base or to slide with profits.

I must admit that many of those discussions and debates resulted in votes that I have unfortunately lost very often. In about ninety-nine percent of the times I tried it, I didn’t get the necessary support. I also received no support from, for example, colleague Van Biesen, who was very often on the same line as the minister.

I remember the following, when this minister was responsible for Foreign Affairs. Our Rules of Procedure are peculiar in the sense that these types of treaties, which, in my opinion, belong rather to the Committee on Finance, continue to come to the Committee on Foreign Relations.

I remember having held an hearing at the beginning of the current legislature, in which we discussed with a number of experts and a number of members. I had a resolution, as there are many resolutions in Parliament. In that resolution there was one point that I would like to bring to my attention today, namely a call for Belgium to commit itself to the creation of a multilateral treaty that would have the advantage that in a single blow the 70 or 80 treaties existing with us to avoid double taxation would disappear. These treaties, as I have already pointed out, were very dangerous, because they allowed the tax eviction of the foundation. Especially, they also allowed large companies to shift with their profits, which left them from paying taxes.

That resolution was not then gloriously approved by the current majority in the Foreign Affairs Committee.

My pleasure was great, therefore, when I saw three weeks ago that through the present draft of a multilateral treaty was suddenly realized for which I had fought twenty years.

I would like to thank the Minister of Foreign Affairs and the former Minister of Finance. I also thank the current Minister of Finance as well as the former Minister of Finance, Johan Van Overtveldt, and everyone who served before him. Thanks to them, we will soon take a very important step towards a fairer international taxation.

But it has not yet been done. After all, I am sure that, supported by very expensive lawyers and other consultancy firms, some are already looking for other ways to avoid paying taxes.

Nevertheless, I am very pleased that, with the end of my political career in sight, the present draft will still be approved. for which thank you.

This is a gratitude statement in which a response can be given, of course.

This is not a real replica.

I just want to say that I am pleased to see a very broad support for the convention.

Mr. Van der Maelen, after so many years in different committees it is, in my opinion, sometimes better to follow the long way, in order to come to a good solution.

Now we have a good solution. After so many years, today is a very important moment for the plenary session.