(03 July 2015) – “To make tax systems fairer, more efficient, growth-friendly and transparent”, the European Commission recently presented an Action Plan to reform corporate taxation in the EU and published a “Top 30” list of tax havens across the world.
15 EU Member States have assessed how countries and territories around the world apply standards of tax good governance (transparency, exchange of information, and fair tax competition).
An interactive map shows the results based on these Member States’ lists in December 2014. The Commission will amend its list at least once a year to reflect changes to Member States’ national lists.
Strangely enough, the list includes the tiny Polynesian island of Niue, where 1,400 people live in semi-subsistence, but does not include other jurisdictions that are commonly labelled as offshore tax avoidance hubs, such as Jersey, Luxembourg and Switzerland. The Organization of Eastern Caribbean States said yesterday (2 July) that it is determined to have 13 Caribbean countries removed from the list.