The European Council is meeting in Brussels on 20-21 March, and are expected to discuss new ways to raise the EU’s own resources. The European Union faces an investment crisis. Mario Draghi’s landmark competitiveness report has called for significantly more public and private investment, urging the EU to invest an additional €800 billion per year.
Much of these investments are indispensable to bolster European industrial policy while reaching agreed green and social targets. The EU also needs to deliver on commitments towards low- and middle-income partner countries, including substantial resources for the new UNFCCC climate finance goal and to advance the SDGs. New tax revenues are required to maintain sound public finances as we close the investment gap to ensure strong foundations for future generations. The European Commission issued valuable proposals for new own resources in 2023, and we regret that those proposals have not been agreed so far. The European Commission’s suggestions for new own resources include an EU-coordinated Financial Transaction Tax. Such a tax could collect between €17 and €43 billion every year.
In addition to the European Commission’s existing suggestions for own resources, we urge you to consider additional innovative proposals and we would like to draw your attention in particular to three additional taxation options:
- A tax on extreme wealth;
- A tax on the profits and ownership of the fossil fuel industry;
- Aviation taxes.
