The British Virgin Islands will join the U.S. Virgin Islands on the “black list” of “tax havens” made by the European Union’s finance ministers. According to Reuters’ report on a leaked draft document, the official announcement will be made on Tuesday of this week. Along with the BVI, it will include Russia, Costa Rica, and the Marshall Islands.
On the blacklist will also be Anguilla, the Bahamas, Fiji, Guam, Palau, Panama, the Russian Federation, Samoa, Trinidad and Tobago, the Turks and Caicos Islands, and Vanuatu.
People say that when the EU decides whether or not to work economically with another country, it looks at whether or not that country is on the “blacklist” or “list of non-cooperative jurisdictions for tax purposes.” Countries on the blacklist might not get money from the EU and might have a harder time getting money from sources outside the EU.
Aside from Russia, whose addition in 2023 may be due to current events, the demographics of the other countries on the EU blacklist show a major similarity. This is why Caribbean economist Marla Dukharan calls the EU’s policies in this area “indisputable examples of institutional racism and bullying.”
A few weeks ago, Ms. Dukharan was quoted in the international wealth management magazine IFC Review. She said that more than a third of the world’s tax havens are in EU member states.
In 2021, members of the European Parliament voted for the list of non-cooperative jurisdictions to be made in a more open, consistent, and fair way. In a resolution that was passed by a large majority, MEPs agreed that the “confusing and ineffective” system was being used in countries where “less than 2% of the world’s tax revenue losses” were happening. The resolution also said that EU member states should be checked out and put on a blacklist if they meet the requirements. By the end of 2021, a law was supposed to have been passed that put the resolution’s ideas into action.
