The one thing Bush, Romney, and the Caymans have in common is a commitment to paying lower taxes. The Cayman Islands have attracted investors due to their policy of “no direct taxation.” In the Caymans there is not tax on profits, capital gains, and there is no estate or death tax payable on real estate in the Caymans. George W. Bush also made his position on taxes clear by passing the Bush-Tax-Cuts. The cost of those cuts is estimate to be $1,034,424,338.581.
We have known for some time that Romney has had off-shore accounts in the Cayman Islands, and other off-shore accounts to limit his tax liability in America. Just one example is the Bermuda-based entity called Sankaty High Yield Asset Investors Ltd., which is a corporation wholly owned by Romney. He set it up in 1997, then transferred it to his wife’s newly created blind trust on January 1, 2003, the day before he was inaugurated as Massachusetts’s governor. The director and president of this entity is R. Bradford Malt, the trustee of Romney’s “blind trust”, and Romney’s personal lawyer.
George W. Bush has been thought of by many Americans as anything but an eloquent speaker. Who could forget these moments?
Yet Bush has made 15 Million Dollars for almost 140 speeches since Jan. 2009, with is an average of $110,000 per speech. Now Bush plans to put his established level of excellence as a speaker to work for the Cayman Alternative Investment Summit which will be held in Cayman, just days before the Nov. 6th election.
It seems that Bush and Romney share the same love of diverting money from investment in the United States, that could significantly reduce our deficit. It is estimated that foreign investment in places like the Caymans costs the United States tens of billions of dollars, every year.
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September 30, 2012 at 5:20 pm
Pat Padrnos
Hi Malia -
My husband told me about this and we both just burst out laughing. Ah – well Bush is not known for his good timing. After all, as he said when leavng office he just wanted to “fill up the coffers”. Paid for speeches, books, etc. It would seem he is just focused on doing just that. Romney did not need this distraction.
You came up in conversation yesterday- in a good way. Happy Sunday.
September 30, 2012 at 6:11 pm
malialitman
Pat,
Thanks for the comment, and it’s nice to know somebody said something nice about me. Thanks!
October 1, 2012 at 10:58 am
Brooke
What I don’t understand is how moving money to the Caymans equals not paying taxes on it in the US. Everyone else knows that putting money in a Swiss account or any of the kazillion other ways to avoid paying taxes on it is – at the very least – illegal. Why don’t the wealthy seem to get that? And why doesn’t the IRS hassle them instead of one of the 99% who adds some not-quite-legitimate medical expenses to his return to make the limit?
October 1, 2012 at 1:08 pm
malialitman
Brooke,
When the money is moved out of the US, any income earned off of that money is taxes to the holder of that account, according to the laws of that foreign country. When Romney puts money off shore, he makes money off of it, but pays no taxes on it.