More than a week after the European Union named 13 Caribbean countries among a list of 30 nations deemed as tax havens, the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) has voiced a strong objection to the EU’s position.
CARICOM on Thursday said that it strongly objects to the decision by the European Commissioner to blacklist a number of member states on the basis that there is no cooperation on tax law enforcement with the European Union.
It said this assertion is false, in view of the continued efforts being made by Member States to comply with the onerous and unilateral regulatory measures put forward by the Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) which sets international standards on tax cooperation
The OECD has told the EU that it considers most of the countries listed as largely compliant in the area of tax information sharing.
Downplay
Meanwhile, the Head of the European Union Delegation to Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean on Thursday sought to downplay fears of Caribbean countries as a result of some of them being listed as tax havens.
Mikael Barfod said that there is no new assessment of tax havens by the EU, stressing that the EU Commission has simply asked the EU member states to make their own individual assessments.
He said that that if more than 10 EU member states regard a non-EU country as 'uncooperative' in tax questions, this country automatically ends up on the list of 30 'uncooperative' states.
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