Offshore tax-havens

Reports in the media contain dire warnings of more and more-severe austerity to come for all of us. More workers will be laid off; more non-earners will lose their state benefits; everybody will pay higher taxes on the goods and services they buy, and on their income if they have any.

Naturally, individuals and companies will scramble to minimise their tax bills, often by diverting prospective income to what are called “offshore tax-havens”. My home (Cayman Islands) is one of them. We provide a home for those scramblers and minimisers, and we don’t apologise for it.

The blame for the current financial crisis lies with greedy and crooked bankers and corrupt politicians and the often greedy voters who elect them. Yet the offshore tax-havens are a much more popular scapegoat for politicians and journalists. Is it fair to blame the tax-havens instead of the real culprits?

I don’t think so. I posted a brief essay “In defence of Offshore tax-havens” on my personal blog in August. For those present who have always assumed the tax-havens to be irredeemably evil, it’s as good a place as any to find the other side of the argument.

International finance is a rare topic on InterNations forums. Considering finance is such a huge factor in our lives, it shouldn’t be.
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