Oxfam International Slam EU Tax List Decision
Oxfam International has criticized the European Union’s decision to remove Bermuda, Barbados, and Aruba from the tax blacklist, with the international organisation claiming that “tax havens rob countries.”
The criticism is not unexpected as Oxfam has criticized Bermuda and other jurisdictions on prior occasions, and has actually called for the EU to blacklist jurisdictions simply on the basis of having low corporate tax rates.
In a statement yesterday after the EU’s announcement, Chiara Putaturo, Oxfam’s EU Policy Advisor on Tax and Inequalities, said: “EU governments have – once again – let some of the world’s worst tax havens off the hook.
“The reforms agreed by Bermuda, Barbados and Aruba will not stop them operating as tax havens. They will continue to offer very aggressive tax regimes and very low or zero corporate tax rates that facilitate large-scale tax dodging and encourage a damaging race to the bottom on corporate tax.
“The EU should raise the bar and blacklist all jurisdictions that offer very low or zero corporate tax rates. Tax havens rob countries in Europe and across the developing world of the tax revenues they need to invest in public services such as schools and clinics, and it’s ordinary people – women in particular – who pay the price.”
Oxfam has previously said, “Beyond the technicalities, the politics around the blacklist are strong and some countries are just too powerful to be listed. The most prominent examples are the United States and Switzerland.
“In addition, there are a number of tax havens in the EU itself, but the EU has chosen to screen only countries outside of its borders, omitting some of the worst tax havens in the world from its assessment.
“To be credible, the EU needs to put its own house in order too. According to Oxfam’s analysis, at least five EU tax havens could fail the blacklisting criteria: Cyprus, Ireland, Luxembourg, Malta and the Netherlands.”
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