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Tomorrow, Oxfam is hosting a panel event on the EU and the fight against tax havens. The event brings together critical voices directly engaged in the current review process of the EU list of tax havens (EU governments, European Parliament and European Commission) and civil society (activists and journalists) whose work has helped to break the opacity of corporate structures and showcase the impact of tax havens in our societies.   

Today, European finance ministers updated the EU tax haven list. They added Brunei Darussalam and removed Costa Rica and Curaçao from the greylist. There were no changes to the blacklist. 

“Today’s so-called ‘hammer blow’ against tax cheats misses. If the proposed registry of beneficial owners of companies and trusts is hidden from the public, how can we know who is hiding their profits and fortunes and trying to avoid paying their fair share?" said Susana Ruiz, Oxfam's tax policy expert.

EU finance ministers have decided today to remove eight countries from the EU’s blacklist for tax havens, rushing to take countries off the blacklist without it being clear what they have actually committed to improve.

Banks in France are relying heavily on tax havens to increase their profits, according to a study based on new data that for the first time allows a proper analysis of the role that tax havens play in European business.

Research published by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists today shows that multinational corporations are using the tax haven of Mauritius to avoid paying millions of dollars of tax across Africa.

Tomorrow, Tuesday 16 February, European Union finance ministers will review the EU tax havens list, officially known as the EU list of non-cooperative jurisdictions for tax purposes. This is an assessment of non-EU countries according to the current blacklist criteria. This process started in 2017 and takes place twice a year. Currently, 12 countries are blacklisted and 10 are ‘grey-listed’.  

Following the abuses revealed in the Panama Papers, world leaders attending the Spring Meetings of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund this week must seize the moment to take decisive action and help end the era of tax havens, said Oxfam today.

The weak EU tax haven blacklist is undermining attempts to stop government bailouts going to corporate tax dodgers, said Oxfam, ahead of the publication of a revised EU blacklist tomorrow, 6 October.

According to the Paris-based Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, just one country fails to comply with international transparency standards, which Oxfam strongly disputes.Trinidad and Tobago is the only tax haven identified by the OECD as failing to comply with international transparency standards, despite extremely weak commitments by the US, the Bahamas and other countries. Also escaping blacklisting were the Netherlands, Bermuda, Mauritius and Singapore, among others, all of which featured on an …