Cayman Islands Benefits US Economy
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 British Overseas Territory.
US economist Daniel Mitchell, who was one of the speakers at the Cayman Business Outlook forum held at the Ritz-Carlton, Grand Cayman recently revealed this.
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 provide 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 in an exclusive interview.
He said that this was a reality that US politicians ignore conveniently, so that they can browbeat the Cayman Islands.
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.
However Mr. Mitchell noted that the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA), which was recently implemented, would not affect the Cayman Islands adversely because the country has been tax compliant.
