Cayman not interested in protecting tax evaders

Hon. McKeeva Bush

Leader of Government Business the Hon. McKeeva Bush says the Cayman Islands is not interested in protecting tax evaders.

He says that if the automatic exchange of information was an international standard or if it was to be adopted by all countries at the same time, the Cayman Islands would have been among the first to subscribe.

"However we cannot subscribe to legislation or policy which is being created in Europe without any representation for our people and which is designed to cripple our ability to be self-sufficient and to take jobs from our people and give them to our competitors," Mr. Bush said in the Legislative Assembly on Thursday December 19.

He noted that many jurisdictions including The Bahamas, Barbados, Hong Kong, and Singapore, all of which are materially in competition with the Cayman Islands, are not being asked to adopt the EU Tax Package and would stand to gain a competitive advantage if the Cayman Islands were obliged to implement the Savings Directive.

Mr. Bush also noted that by way of example, the United Kingdom knowingly excluded Bermuda which is a competitor of the Cayman Islands from the Draft Directive.

He continued: "The European Commission has accepted that in the case of Switzerland, that automatic exchange of information is not required.

"This is understood to be the basis on which negotiations with Switzerland are now proceeding despite the fact that this option has not been offered to the Caribbean Overseas Territories.

"Further, it has now become apparent that Switzerland together with several EU Member States which have banking secrecy including Austria, Belgium and Luxembourg are being offered the prospect of not having to comply with the OECD's Harmful Tax Competition project until at least 5 years after the Caribbean Overseas Territories are being expected to comply, as an inducement to encourage those European countries to go along with a modified form of the Feira Accord."

Mr. Bush said that the Cayman Islands has told the United Kingdom that the Government cannot stand by and allow the country to be the victim of an illegitimate process or outcome.

"Neither can we condone the Cayman Islands assuming substantial, discriminatory and disproportionate burdens on behalf of the EU Member States without any form of consultation, consideration or compensation," he said.

"The Government is very concerned that the displacement or "out burdening" by the EU of tax enforcement burdens to the Cayman Islands and other colonies which receive no benefit from the EU, distorts economic competition, particularly when the EU is offering much less onerous burdens together tied to substantial economic benefits to other countries such as Switzerland."

The Government Leader said it is clear that if this extremely discriminatory approach is adopted by the EU, then part of the "compensation" being offered by the EU to Switzerland, Austria, Belgium and Luxembourg as an enticement to adopt less onerous "equivalent measures", will be capital and jobs moving from the Caribbean Overseas Territories to those European countries.

Return