The EU has expanded its blacklist of countries considered tax havens to include Anguilla, the Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos Islands.
It now lists 12 countries or territories that EU finance ministers say are not cooperating in the fight against tax evasion and avoidance. Many countries levy little or no corporate tax.
The lists have existed since the end of 2017 and are updated twice a year. The list already included American Samoa, Fiji, Guam, Palau, Panama, Samoa, Trinidad and Tobago, the US Virgin Islands and Vanuatu. The EU says it “regrets” that they are not adapting its tax regime to European codes of conduct on facilitating tax evasion and avoidance.
MEPs and organizations such as Oxfam have long complained that the blacklist is insufficient. There would be plenty of shortcuts for tax evaders and dodgers. They also find it hypocritical that EU countries themselves cannot be blacklisted.