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Ms Scott Cato of the Green Group. Molly: Thank You Mr. President. This law
requiring the automatic exchange of information about where companies make
their money is a step towards transparency. In future, tax authorities
will be able to see where companies earn money and create value, and if they shift
profits to avoid paying tax. But this is a long way short of the full public
Country-By-Country reporting that we as Greens have been calling for. We need
this information to be publicly available and for all multinational
companies, not just a few of the large ones. The EU can and should be a global
leader in ambitious actions for Tax Justice. The leak of the Panama Papers
exposed the extent of the network of tax havens and Overseas Territories that
help wealthy people hide their money. The data make it clear that the
UK is at the heart of the web of offshore tax havens - over half of the
companies listed have been registered in the British *** Islands and when you
trace the people or companies behind these shell companies, the UK itself ranks
fifth for linked companies. David Cameron has a real opportunity this week to
demonstrate its commitment to tax transparency as he hosts the UK's
anti-corruption summit. He can put an end to shell companies by requiring British
Overseas Territories to introduce a mandatory public register of beneficial
ownership. This would be a real step towards ending tax havens and secrecy
jurisdictions and I support the calls made this week by over 300
economists for this to happen. Let's end tax havens once and for all.