Tax Amnesty and Community Law
| DOI | 10.1177/1023263X0501200301 |
| Date | 01 September 2005 |
| Published date | 01 September 2005 |
| Author | Wouter Devroe |
| Subject Matter | Editorial |
EDITORIAL
TAX AMNESTY AND COMMUNITY LAW
§ 1. INTRODUCTION
Europe is being swept by a raft of ‘national tax’ amnesty measures. Member States are
hoping to strengthen their economies and reduce budget deficits by allowing tax evaders
to come clean and declare previously undeclared and therefore untaxed income. The
‘remorseful’ tax evader typically pays a one-off penalty tax (usually a percentage of the
unreported income but considerably less than under normally applicable tax rates),
repatriates previously undeclared sums of capital held abroad, and promises to re-invest
that capital in the local economy through local banks or other financial institutions. In
turn, the declared sums are freed from any past tax liabilities or penalties. The
‘remorseful’ taxable person may be guaranteed full anonymity as well.
At least eleven of the current
1
Member States of the European Union have at one time
or other resorted to tax amnesty measures
2
, and the same is true for many other
countries, developed as well as developing, worldwide.
3
Tax amnesty measures are not new: apparently, they were already known in ancient
Egypt and the Roman Empire, and the first Dutch programme, for instance, dates back to
1934. However, the technique appears to have been rediscovered in recent years,
especially in Europe. The reason is twofold.
Firstly, tax amnesty, like other one-off measures such as privatisation, offers a painless
strategy to deal with budget deficits in the post-Maastricht and Stability and Growth Pact
era.
12 MJ 3 (2005) 217
1
Note that some of these States were not yet members of the European Union at the time they established
their tax amnesty programmes.
2
These are Austria (1982, 1993), Belgium (1984, 2004, 2005), Finland (1982, 1984), France (1982, 1986),
Germany (2004-2005), Greece (2004-2005), Ireland (1988, 1993), Italy (1982, 1984, 2002), The
Netherlands (1934, 1940, 1945, 1955), Portugal (1981, 1982, 1986, 1988, 2005), and Spain (1977). Italics
indicate Member States with recent programmes.
3
Apart from the above-mentioned EU Member States, countries such as Argentina, Australia, Bolivia,
Chile, Colombia, the Philippines, India, Ecuador, Venezuela, Pakistan, Panama, Peru, Mexico, Canada,
Puerto Rico, New Zealand, Russia, South Africa, the United States (on the federal level, and in more than
half the of the states, see http://www.taxadmin.org/fta/rate/amnesty1.html) have all resorted to tax
amnesty measures. See for a recent and excellent overview B. Torgler and C.A. Schaltegger, Tax
Amnesties in Switzerland and Around The World, Tax Notes International 1193 (2005).
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