BERLIN — A group of media outlets led by Germany’s non-profit Correctiv are reporting traders have manipulated transactions in multiple European countries over years, draining tax coffers of some 55.2 billion euros ($63.5 billion). In Germany alone traders were able to garner 31.8 billion euros in so-called “Cum-Ex” trades, involving receiving multiple reimbursements for capital gains taxes paid only once. As it investigated in Germany, Correctiv in 2017 obtained files indicating it was much more widely spread, and enlisted others to help. Overall, 38 journalists from a dozen European countries analyzed 180,000 pages of files. Correctiv editor-in-chief Oliver Schroem says the scheme’s “a robbery, a theft from the tax purse.”

Source: National Post October 18, 2018 14:15 UTC