In statements issued yesterday, the government of Barbados and the opposition in St. Lucia each responded to the European Union’s blacklisting of their respective countries as non-cooperative tax jurisdictions.
According to Caribbean News Now, Barbados minister of international business, Donville Inniss, described the blacklisting as “extremely unfortunate and unfair in light of and despite Barbados’ recent direct engagement with the EU Code of Conduct Group over the past months”.
The EU list of no cooperative jurisdictions for tax purposes states that Barbados has a harmful preferential tax regime and did not clearly commit to amending or abolishing it as requested by December 31, 2018.
However, the Barbados government is apparently unaware of which regime Barbados has not clearly committed to amending and therefore asked the EU on Wednesday morning by way of email, followed by a telephone call yesterday morning seeking clarification.
Meanwhile, in St. Lucia, leader of the opposition St. Lucia Labour Party (SLP), Philip J. Pierre, told a news conference yesterday that the decision by the EU to put St. Lucia on the tax haven blacklist is a very serious matter, and blamed negligence on the part of the Allen Chastanet administration for the situation.
