Member States' efforts to reduce gender employment and unemployment gaps vary from training (Ireland, Austria, the Netherlands and Luxembourg), review of tax, benefit and pensions systems and incentives for enterprises (Belgium, Ireland, Sweden, the Netherlands, Spain and France), encouraging entrepreneurship (Greece, Sweden and Luxembourg) and better care services for children and other dependants (Ireland, Greece, Italy and the United Kingdom).

whereas tax advisors play a crucial role in facilitating aggressive tax planning, by helping companies to establish complex legal structures in order to take advantage of the mismatches and loopholes that arise from different tax systems; whereas a fundamental review of the corporate tax system cannot occur without investigating the practices of these advisory firms; whereas such an investigation must include consideration of the conflict of interest inherent in such firms, which simultaneously provide advice to national governments on setting up tax systems and advice to companies on how best ...[+++] to optimise their tax liabilities within such systems;

whereas tax advisors play a crucial role in facilitating aggressive tax planning, by helping companies to establish complex legal structures in order to take advantage of the mismatches and loopholes that arise from different tax systems; whereas a fundamental review of the corporate tax system cannot occur without investigating the practices of these advisory firms; whereas such an investigation must include consideration of the conflict of interest inherent in such firms, which simultaneously provide advice to national governments on setting up tax systems and advice to companies on how best ...[+++] to optimise their tax liabilities within such systems;

(ix) whereas tax advisors play a crucial role in facilitating aggressive tax planning, by helping companies to establish complex legal structures in order to take advantage of the mismatches and loopholes that arise from different tax systems; whereas a fundamental review of the corporate tax system cannot occur without investigating the practices of these advisory firms; whereas such an investigation must include consideration of the conflict of interest inherent in such firms, which simultaneously provide advice to national governments on setting up tax systems and advice to companies on how best ...[+++] to optimise their tax liabilities within such systems;

5. Stresses that massive tax evasion and tax avoidance by larger companies has a devastating effect on the taxpaying discipline of smaller companies and even individuals, since it makes tax evasion and tax avoidance appear to be the accepted norm, and it is, inter alia, due to this tax evasion that an additional tax burden on individuals and companies is introduced; stresses that tax avoidance and tax evasion are facilitated by complex, non-transparent taxation systems and that ...[+++]opaque tax legislation offers firms and individuals, by a flexible interpretation of tax laws, opportunities to reduce their own tax burden at the expense of others;

Foster competition in goods and services markets by: (i) increasing the transposition rate of Internal Market directives and eliminating remaining barriers (including barriers created through the fiscal system) to cross-border trade and market entry in goods and, especially services markets; (ii) further opening up public procurement; (iii) giving adequate resources to competition and regulatory authorities, (iv) continuing efforts to reduce the overall level of State aid, whilst reorienting aid towards horizontal objectives of common Community interest and targeting it to identified market fai ...[+++]lures; (v) encouraging market entry and effective competition in network industries while pursuing a greater connectivity of national markets within the current EU and with candidate countries ; (vi) eliminating tax obstacles which impede the smooth functioning of the internal market by establishing a consolidated corporate tax base for those companies incorporated under the European Company Statute, or alternatively for companies operating in several Member States; and (vii) guaranteeing the universality, high quality, and reasonable pricing of services of general interest .