EU takes Bahamas, St Kitts off tax haven list

The EU today removed the Caribbean nations of the Bahamas and Saint Kitts and Nevis from a black list of tax havens, bringing the number of jurisdictions to seven.

The nations were struck from the list after providing good conduct commitments to EU authorities and will now move to the so-called grey list -- a list of countries that have promised to do better.

The blacklist now covers just 7 jurisdictions: Guam, Namibia, Palau, Samoa, American Samoa and Trinidad and Tobago as well as the United States Virgin Islands.

"Having fewer and fewer jurisdictions on the (black) list shows the success of this procedure," said Bulgarian Finance Minister Vladislav Goranov, whose country holds the EU's six-month rotating presidency, after his counterparts agreed to remove the two nations.

The EU blacklist, adopted in December 2017, was a first in EU history and initially contained 17 countries.

But that was halved in January, with eight countries, including Panama, having provided good conduct commitments and being transferred to the grey list.

This reduction, particularly Panama's withdrawal, had provoked outrage among many activists.

The adoption of this list was undertaken in the wake of a series of tax evasion scandals, including the LuxLeaks and the Panama Papers revelations.