Bombshell Report On Luxembourg's Shady Tax Deals Looks Ugly For Junker

Jean-Claude Junker, the newly-elected president of the European Commission, may face extra pressure after a group of investigative journalists revealed on Wednesday that hundreds of companies appear to have negotiated secret tax-cutting deals with Luxembourg.

Juncker was prime minister of Luxembourg for 18 years, between 1995 and 2013.

According to leaked documents obtained by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), the shady negotiations allegedly saved some of the world's biggest companies, including Pepsi, HSBC, Amazon, and IKEA, millions of dollars that would otherwise have been paid in tax.

The full article from ICIJ is here. It contains the details of private tax rulings for individual companies negotiated with the state, known as "comfort letters."

It appears that many of the deals were crafted under Junker's term:

Juncker, Luxembourg's top leader when many of the jurisdiction's tax breaks were crafted, has promised to crack down on tax dodging in his new post, but he has also said he believes his own country's tax regime is in "full accordance" with European law.

The ICIJ continues:

It might well be the case that Luxembourg's tax system is perfectly legal under European law, but it's hard to imagine that it's helped to "put some morality" into the system.

Either way, this does not look good for Junker who is only four days into his five-year term as European Commission president.