McTaggart takes on Cayman slight in UK commons

(CNS): Despite the departure of Anthony Travers, Cayman Finance is keeping up with the work he started. Interim Chairman Roy McTaggart has sent a letter to Ronnie Campbell, MP (left), a UK parliamentarian who referred to the Cayman Islands as a tax haven during a debate in the House of Commons on Wednesday. In the letter he says that Campbell is doing a disservice to his constituents, given the enormous economic benefits UK companies gain by using Cayman when he inaccurately describes the islands as a tax haven. Delivering the same message as his predecessor, McTaggart says Cayman is a fully transparent jurisdiction and not a place where individuals or corporations are able to “hide money”.

During his comments in the UK parliament Campbell, the Labour MP for Blyth Valley, said he was sick of hearing the argument that there was no money in the UK government’s coffers. “Does my right hon. Friend not agree that, if all the multinational companies, including the banks, paid the tax on their profits instead of avoiding doing so by hiding their money in tax havens such as the Cayman islands, we would not have this problem? We would have bags of money-billions of pounds,” he said.

In his letter McTaggart, who took up the role only this week, said the statement was factually inaccurate and that UK-based multinational companies and corporate structures that are domiciled in the Cayman Islands have done so legally and in compliance with their domestic tax laws.

“This model allows these companies to make the most efficient use of capital held in the UK, thereby creating employment and wealth for your constituents,” McTaggart wrote. “The tax neutral platform which the Cayman Islands provide to international financing transactions has nothing whatsoever to do with the issue of tax evasion. Cayman Island entities pay taxes in the jurisdictions where the profits are made in accordance with the laws of those jurisdictions.”

He pointed out that the responsibility for the ability of UK companies to use Cayman remained with UK tax laws.

See McTaggart's letter below.