CARICOM opposes EU tax haven blacklist

AS four territories within the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) have been blacklisted by the European Union (EU) for being part of the EU List of Non-Cooperative Tax Jurisdictions, CARICOM on Tuesday called on the European Union to enter an early dialogue with CARICOM states as a group, with a view to agreeing on benchmarks for good tax governance that could be applied in a fair and equitable manner, taking account of the economic circumstances and capacity of all their jurisdictions.

On December 5, the EU announced that the first-ever EU list of non-cooperative tax jurisdictions has been agreed by the Finance Ministers of EU member states during their meeting in Brussels.

Trinidad and Tobago, Grenada, St. Lucia and Barbados, have been listed as four of 17 non-cooperative tax jurisdictions. “In total, ministers have listed 17 countries for failing to meet agreed tax good- governance standards. In addition, 47 countries have committed to addressing deficiencies in their tax systems and to meet the required criteria, following contacts with the EU,” a statement published on the commission’s website stated.