In the news – The EU has named and shamed 17 countries in its first ever tax haven blacklist and put a further 47 on notice, in an attempt to clamp down on the estimated 506 billion Euro lost to tax avoidance every year. The blacklist includes St Lucia, Barbados, Grenada and Trinidad and Tobago. The EU said the countries failed to match up to international standards and had not offered sufficient commitments that they would change their ways during talks in the months leading up to publication of the list. Prime Minister Allen Chastanet says St Lucia will be moving swiftly to address this matter. He says its about being able to meet with the EU and hopefully finding a way in which they can either agree to abolish some of the tax regimes that Saint Lucia currently has, or to amend them in order to be able to meet the EU’s minimum standards.
