US reaps big money from Cayman
US economist and tax expert Daniel Mitchell was in Grand Cayman for the recent Cayman Business Outlook forum. FILE PHOTO
The Cayman Islands is the biggest source of funds from the Caribbean invested into the United States, with trillions of dollars pumped into the economy through the jurisdiction.
This was revealed by US economist Daniel Mitchell, who was one of the speakers at the Cayman Business Outlook forum held at the Ritz-Carlton, Grand Cayman on 24 January.
According to Mr Mitchell two trillion dollars have moved into the United States economy thanks to the Cayman Islands.
Mr Mitchell cited the Treasury Department’s international accounts, which shows the source of money from each region. “Under the Caribbean, which is primarily the Cayman Islands, there is two trillion dollars going to the US economy,” he said.
He noted that the Cayman Islands provides the biggest economic platform in the Caribbean and the chief source of international finance that goes to the United States of America.
He said that contrary to popular belief, the Cayman Islands has done more for the United States economy than the latter has done for this islands.
“Now that money is in America creating jobs, helping the American financial system, strengthening our financial sector, putting new money into our stock market, and the Cayman Islands, since it has a good tax neutral system, is a platform for foreigners around the world to invest in the US economy. That is very beneficial for America,” he told Cayman Net News in an exclusive interview.
He said that this was a reality that US politicians ignore conveniently, so that they can browbeat the Cayman Islands.
“Most politicians who think they know Cayman have read a John Grisham book and watched a movie and they think that in the Cayman Islands is where all the drug money is.
“All the drug money is in New York banks; it does not come to the Cayman Islands. But politicians just don’t think about this; all they think about is what to say to get elected, and whether it is true or not it does not matter to them.”
Mr Mitchell, who is a top expert on tax reform and supply-side tax policy and a strong advocate of a flat tax and international tax competition, said that both the US and Cayman governments put a cap on expenditure. He noted that the Cayman government should not grow more than the private sector and it was not fair that the civil service was the largest employer in the Cayman Islands. He said greater investment should be encouraged, since the civil service is so big.
“Business must grow at a fast rate than government, for there to be sustainable growth,” he told Cayman Net News.
He said that for any government to guarantee prosperity, it must spend less than its revenue.
Mr Mitchell said that because the United States government was out to spend more money on welfare, the country was looking at new areas where it could maximize taxes and that is where the Cayman Islands comes in.
He said that any passage of law that was bad for the Cayman Islands was also bad for the United States.
“Politicians don’t think of consequences; they are like a two-year-old child who sees a cookie and says, I want I want; give me the cookie. They think that the Cayman Islands is a cookie of tax revenue, and that leads them to pass laws without thinking,” he told Cayman Net News.
As long as the government in the United States keeps getting bigger, these politicians will always think that the Cayman Islands is a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. They are wrong. They don’t understand that the Cayman Islands is tax compliant and is in harmony with the US law,” Mr Mitchell emphasised.
However Mr Mitchell noted that the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA), which was recently implemented, will not affect the Cayman Islands adversely because the country has been tax compliant.
According to the US Internal Revenue Service, under FATCA, US taxpayers with specified foreign financial assets that exceed certain thresholds must report those assets to the IRS. This reporting will be made on Form 8938, which taxpayers attach to their federal income tax return, starting this tax filing.
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I have been giving serious thought to our situation in the Cayman Islands, both politically, socially and economically and have concluded that the brook is drying up and its time to move on, we are trying to cultivate a farm on barren land.
Cayman needs to stop playing games with itself, stop deluding ourselves and realize that nothing good is in store for the OT’s where the UK is concerned, its just not on their agenda.There are no benefits, but many sorrows, embarrassments, court costs, expenses, international embarrassment, shame and disgrace, being repeated over and over again. When will we ever learn.
Regardless of who is in charge, whether Mckeeva Bush, or anyone else, if the UK has an agenda to destroy the territory before we break away, or they let us go, they will simply do to us what they have done to all other territories that have flourished and put them to shame. We are a competitor of the UK, therefore they have much to be gained by destroying the economy of the Cayman Islands where the Financial Industry is concerned.
Even the offer of citizenship to its OT’s citizens including Caymanians was only a trick. It was only a bait and switch, a ploy to change migration venues in order to invite a more liberal set of migrants to the territories encouraging and boosted by the work permit sales in the millions of dollars who come from etreme liberal jurisdictions both in Europe and North America making it easier for the UK to push through their own liberal agenda on the territories. Just on today it was voted on in the British Parliament voting for Gay Marriage. Expect them to send this garbage our way in the not too distance future. We must stand up to them.
THE CAYMAN ISLANDS AND OTHER CARIBBEAN NATIONS THAT ARE OVERSEAS TERRITORIES OF THE UK SHOULD SERIOUSLY CONSIDER INDEPENDENCE FROM THE UK AND STAND ON OUR OWN TWO FEET.
Why be bullied around in your own house if you are the only breadwinner? We need to start the conversation with these other territories, for a United Federation of Caribbean states, and break away from the UK that keeps undermining our ability to rule ourselves.And Yes We can.
We need a good head start, better than Jamaica had, and planning better than they did.We need to start now to develop our internal & external affairs, trade, education, manufacturing, importing and exporting, start building our defense forces, coast guards, national guards, etc. We need to start now.
Caymanians are only suffering under this UK regime, its not the local politicians that are causing this, it is the way the Governor and the UK has set things up that is causing the unrest, making it look like its the politicians that are hurting the people. .Therefore we will not be any worst off with independence. We will be able to call Cayman for Caymanians once again.
These constant investigations prefabricated by the UK will only come to an end with independence from the mother country determined to show off their power.
People of Caymanian birth find no solution in their elected government to their degradation which is the direct result of imported Western and European civilization becoming the dominant force over the lives of a mixed race culture of people in the Cayman Islands.The result is embarassment, poverty, disenfranchise and modern day slavery. Caymanians have no right to work in their own homeland.
It is now time to seriously consider self determination and consider a more advanced and mature system of government and move towards Independence from the UK.
After all the UK is doing nothing for the Cayman Islands. Why should we be pushed around, bullied around, have the country flooded with UK cops and a UK governor, 4 missing persons, and no accountability. 4,000 jobless Caymanians while there are 25,000 expats on work permits. The UK seems to enjoy Caymanians living in misery, and are obviously engineering our government to steer this course to impoverish Caymanians..
It is now high time to set an early date for Independence and take our country back.
Committees need to be formed in order to plan a date and time for our move towards independence from the UK.