Abu Dhabi – Mubasher: The European Union (EU) on Tuesday has cleared eight countries from the tax haven blacklist.
The removed countries include the UAE, Tunisia, Barbados, Grenada, South Korea, Macao, Mongolia, and Panama, according to an official document.
The remaining countries in the tax haven blacklist are American Samoa, Bahrain, Guam, Marshall Islands, Namibia, Palau, Saint Lucia, Samoa, and Trinidad and Tobago, Reuters reported.
“The European Union’s decision reaffirms the UAE’s full and solid commitment to transparency in tax procedures and the meticulous efforts made by all stakeholders in the Emirates to cooperate with our European counterparts,” Younis Haji Al Khoori, the UAE Ministry of Finance’s undersecretary, commented.
However, the recent decision caused a wave of critics, especially to the remove of Panama, the international news agency stated.
“Today’s decision is a confession of failure. Crossing Panama, one of the world’s most prolific tax havens off the blacklist, is a disastrous sign in the fight against tax avoidance,” Markus Ferber, the vice-chair of the European Parliament’s economic committee, remarked.
The tax haven list was drawn in December 2017 and was aimed at fighting the global tax evasion.
