PM: Tax haven label not fair

BARBADOS’ RECENT BLACKLISTING as a tax haven by some member states of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has shown the arbitrary and inconsistent nature of such actions.

And, said Prime Minister Freundel Stuart, a mechanism must be developed to ensure that countries which are pursuing the recommendations of the OECD’s Global Forum are not penalized by other agencies.

“Despite the high level of compliance and cooperation as reflected in the forum, and despite the plethora of exchange of information agreements signed and implemented, as the Global Forum and the OECD will testify, some of us are constantly placed on the defensive,” he said.

In fact, Stuart feels the blacklisting of partially compliant states should have no place in “the life and operations” of the OECD.

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