On January 11, 2016, the European Commission decided that a corporate tax break Belgium had granted to thirty-five companies violates EU state-aid rules. According to the press release, “[t]he scheme reduced the corporate tax base of the companies by between 50% and 90% to discount for so-called "excess profits" that allegedly result from being part of a multinational group.” The EU Commissioner for competition policy stated, “It distorts competition on the merits by putting smaller competitors who are not multinational on an unequal footing.” In addition to ending the special tax deals and “in order to remove the unfair advantage the beneficiaries of the scheme have enjoyed and to restore fair competition, Belgium now has to recover the full unpaid tax” from the corporations, expected to total about 700 million euros. According to a news report, the Commission’s decision is part of a large-scale EU investigation into special tax deals between member states and multinational corporations, such as Amazon in Luxemburg and Apple in Ireland, which have violated EU competition rules and driven down tax revenue throughout the European Union. It is also part of the Commission’s attempt to reign in economic problems in the Union, which have left many national governments unable to submit balanced budgets, and responds to criticism that the loopholes favor large corporations to the detriment of smaller taxpayers. The arrangements have also been criticized by U.S. tax authorities, noting that they allow corporations to shield profits on which they should be paying American taxes.