Cayman waits on UK decision
(CNS): McKeeva Bush is currently in London meeting with FCO officials in a bid to secure approval for borrowing to help balance the 2009/10 budget and deal with government’s immediate financial problems. At this point it is not clear exactly what measures Bush will be presenting to the OT minister, Chris Bryant, following his letter advising the UDP government to implement some form of direct taxation, which has been rejected.
Although Leader of Government Business McKeeva Bush has told the Cayman people about his long term measure to stimulate Cayman’s local economy through asset sell-offs and private finance initiatives, no firm measures have been announced to the Cayman public that will make any significant cuts in expenditure or raise revenue in the short term, since the pension suspension was frozen. Bush is expected to meet with Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) economists before presenting his intentions to address the deficit to Bryant. Although Cayman has raised the necessary $372 million government needs to get through this financial year on the private markets, it cannot access that cash until Bryant gives the go ahead because the country has exceeded the borrowing limits set out by the Public Management and Finance Law.
Although Bush is presenting his proposed budget to the OT minister this week, he said he intends to present the full budget to the Cayman people next week in the Legislative Assembly. At this stage, however, it is not clear exactly which of the myriad proposals for new taxes or fee increases he will adopt. Nor has the LoGB stated what plans are in place if Bryant refuses to permit the borrowing without a firm commitment to introduce direct taxation, though he has said he is confident the UK will approve his plans.
In an interview with Reuters this weekend Bush listed a number of potential revenue raising measures, but officials from the UDP camp said yesterday that none of them were necessarily going to be implemented and were just merely “ideas that had been discussed”.
Bush spoke of a 2 percent increase in import duties and the introduction of a community service fee, which he said would be a fixed fee for all Cayman Islands residents, based on their ability to pay.
"Everyone working in Cayman is going to have to contribute," Bush told Reuters. He did not say how much or how the fee would be collected, or how it would be calculated to be fair to low paid workers. He spoke of eliminating garbage fees but imposing other new fees, as well as increasing some of the existing consumer taxes. Bush said a fee would be introduce to register trademarks and patents, and fees for passports, planning applications and nightclub licenses would be raised.
Although Caymanians are still in the dark over exactly what extra fees they will need to pay this year to pay for government expenditure, Bush acknowledged that Cayman needs to expand its revenue base. "I believe the UK is being realistic,” he said. “We do not have a manufacturing base or natural resources. If we don’t have a sustainable revenue base, we are putting ourselves in jeopardy."
What that sustainable revenue base will be is still the key question that Caymanians are waiting to find out. Moreover, it is the key to securing the desperately needed funds to ensure that government can meet its financial commitments for September, including the civil service payroll.
A Guardian article this weekend revealed that the UK has some serious concerns about the financial stability of its territories, the details of which are contained in the long awaited report by Michael Foot. The report suggests the government may need to make provisions for the financial failure of what Foot terms British tax havens. The concern is that if the dependent territories fail they could turn to the illegal drugs trade. Foot’s report is understood to recommend that the territories boost their revenue through direct taxation.
Category: Headline News
What does the average man on the street do when he has less money than he needs? Does he borrow more? or spend less?
What is Mac doing in London?
According to the FCO website Chris Bryant is in Mexico.
Chris Bryant visits Mexico for talks on climate change ahead of Copenhagen (17/09/2009)
On 17 – 18 September Foreign Office Minister, Chris Bryant, visits Mexico for the first time since taking office in June.
Chris Bryant will meet human rights experts and Mexican alumni of the (UK-funded) Chevening scholarship network, and participate in the annual high-level political talks with his Mexican counterparts.
The talks will cover current areas where the UK and Mexico work closely together, such as sustainable development and the promotion of the transition to a low carbon and high growth economy, as well as new opportunities for joint work and collaboration.
Chris Bryant said: "I have enormous affection for Latin America, and I’m excited that my first visit to the region, of which I hope there will be many more, should be to one of the world’s leading emerging economies."
During his visit, Chris Bryant will hold meetings with leaders in the private sector and pay a visit to Mexico City’s new low-emissions zone.
He said: "Trade between the UK and Mexico has doubled during the last decade and Mexico is now considered to be a strategic market for British exports. I am looking forward to hosting business leaders and leading thinkers at a Climate Change and Prosperity Panel Forum, and to hearing about how Mexicans plan to turn talk into action in terms of moving to a low-carbon, high-growth economy in advance of Copenhagen in December, and beyond."
Hmmmm now that is quite interesting….. I wonder myself, is the Mac taking all of us for fools!!
Who else from Cayman has flown to UK with him and what are they contributing to the process or is it just the usual jolly on CIG money
I would like to suggest a1 cent per ounce tax on soft drinks (they are not on anybody’s essential food groups) as a way to raise money. It might not sound like much but I gather that it could amount to about $2 million a year in revenue while contributing to the fight against diabetes and obesity and decreasing the amount of trash headed to the dump
And it would cost 12 million to collect it.
Actually it is all imported in either ready to use bottled form or as concentrate for use in bars and restaurants. Either way it would be easy and virtually free to collect the amount due at the time of importation.
Have I got this right?
As a UK (not English!) income taxpayer, McKeeva Bush wants my Government to use some of my taxes to provide a loan to Cayman so that people in Cayman do not have to pay an income tax. Is it as simple as this?
No you are way off. Mckeeva wants to borrow money from our own banks here in Cayman but he has to get permission from the UK to borrow the money.
No. Arrangements have been made with local banks for the loan. Cayman just needs FCO permission to be able to accept the loans.
"Have I got this right?
As a UK (not English!) income taxpayer, McKeeva Bush wants my Government to use some of my taxes to provide a loan to Cayman so that people in Cayman do not have to pay an income tax. Is it as simple as this?"
This is exactly why the British need to read more than the Guardian
Might I suggest the Sunday Sport?
You are understandably confused given the content of the Guardian article and others in the international media. As others have pointed that is completely wrong. Cayman is not asking the UK for a loan, grant or anything else except its permission to borrow under loans already arranged with commercial banks.
Of course if the UK were giving us a loan at interest it would actually put your income tax dollars to good income-producing use rather than the waste your government is making of it.
No, no, no.
Picture this. You are the Cayman Islands. You tell your mother, Clare, who represents the UK, "I want to be responsible with my money. In future, I need your permission to spend more than $100 a month of my money". Then, you and everyone else get charged $50 for no reason. This represents the financial crisis. You now have only $50 to spend for normal purposes, which you do, but bills still remain outstanding. You go to your mother, Clare, and say, "Clare, I know I said I would need your permission to spend more than $100 a month, but this has been a very difficult month as you well know, you got charged that $50 as well, so I need your permission to go over the $100 a month". She refuses permission, and tells you in a letter that you will just have to stop eating instead. She explains that she fully understands that the money is there, but she will not allow you to spend it until she is absolutely convinced that you have a medium-term plan to fix the world’s economy. She further tells you that she hopes you understand that you cannot continue to spend money as if you have a job. It does not matter to her that you currently have a job, nor that your employer has said a number of times, "I have no intention of firing you, now or in the future". She also criticises you for having that cancer treatment, saying it was extravagant for you to have an actual doctor; in fact, it alarmed her. Her friends then run around handing out leaflets saying that you came begging her for money. Someone picks up one of the leaflets and asks you what you just asked us.
That, sir or madam, is what it is as simple as.
Your satire is not as finely crafted as the great Dean Swift, Travis, but it is great to see you back commenting. I hope you continue-even though I don’t always agree.
When Caymanians decided to sell off their property to Foreign investors they also sold off their birth right with it.
According to the Real Estate people property is presently cheap, so I suggest Caymanians use the oppertunity to buy back the country, even if it is a smaal piece at a time.
That way we can reclaim our Birth right and once again take control of our destiny.
The LOGB is in the Real Estate business and should be encouraging Caymanians to buy back our country instead of continuing to sell off the little that is left. I guess this is not a good idea for his profit margin therefore he would never promote this idea.
What troubles me is that it all seems be about what the people can do. Nothing about what the politicians can do to improve matters! If import duty is raised, will this affect any politician? Clearly not. Are you going to be the customs officer searching McKeevas back and checking his receipts?
Lead by example! Cut your own salary and benefits! Oh, and perhaps you may want to convince some hotels and condos to lower their prices. Staycation is still more expensive than going for a weekend to the Mandarin Oriental in Miami. Check travelocity!
Just wait until the UK brings up gay rights, Mac will be on his knees doing everything asked of him.
Oh dear I hope that is not the image you intended to draw. "gay rights" "mac on his knees".
As long as it is not rammed down our throats upon his return I will be happy. The real agenda is to try and have more revenue released. There may be more attached but I am not going to swallow the conspiracy angle.
Without a real agenda Captain Underpants will really have us over a barrel. It will be a long hard go of it then!
It seems obvious politicians should not be allowed to control our finances they should be allowed to…
ummm
just a minute.
there should be something they’re allowed to do
It’ll come to me
Let’s just forget Kim Lund and his suggestions shall we. One of his "suggestions to save Cayman" was to….ready??…..move West Bay Rd. to allow for more "development" near the beach!! I’m $ure he gave thi$ a lot of thought! Hmmm…..how can I save Cayman? And make a wee bit of money. If he and other realtors could have wall-to-wall condos all down Seven Mile….they’d be happy. AND we’re close to that now. And… if they could pave Public Beach for a parking lot and charge…..they would.
if you don’t like the development go to cayman brac and enjoy the old cayman ways……
Under no circumstances should garbage collection fees be removed. They should be at least doubled and this time actually collected! Tie them to the water bills if need be, it really can’t be that complicated. At the same time, impose a fee on problem items such as plastic shopping bags, polystyrene containers and plastic water bottles. Drive the cost of them so high that they become obselete. Again, two birds, one rock stone.
Furthermore, immediately reinstate school fees for all Government school students and following a one month grace period, publish a list of every person who has outstanding garbage and/or school fees and the amount owed, in the middle of Heroes Square, for all to see. Quit pussy footing around.
Education should be free to all Caymanians!!!!!!!. Otherwise, we will have to import highly paid qualified expatriates for ever. Those who come here to work get free education in their mother country. In any case, with 9000 more status grants that the government is planning to give based on advice given by persons like XXXXX, our people would not be able to get those highly paid jobs forever.
With education, as in so much in life, you get what you pay for.
With education, as in so much in life, you get out of it what you put into it.
….and there we have it folks, the root cause of this problem in the first place….everything should be free for all Caymanians…and the message that sends for a very young age is…yes….you guessed it….entitlement!
YES SIR/MADAM. If you do not like it, find your way back home. It is a simple decision you can make. Country needs skilled qualified people and the government should invest in them and there should not be any road blocks. Trickle down effect will be felt may be in every 20-25 years.
My my, sounds like someone has some fees outstanding. Instead of spouting venemous anti-expat crap on here, how about you mosey on over to your nearest post office and settle your tab. We will post your name in Heroes Square. Promise. I’m home by the way, on the east side of town and my bills are all paid up, cars and home within my means and haven’t yet bought my kids that fancy waverunner they think they are somehow entitled to.
Education is not free in most developed countries; it is funded through the taxation of income.
Education is not free in most developed countries; it is funded through the taxation of income. The residents of other countries do, in fact, pay for the education they receive, out of each and every pay cheque. I assume that government schools in Cayman are currently funded the same way — that is, from the proceeds of duties, work permit fees and the like.
Tell us more about the 9000 planned status grants.
Garbage fees…….the utility companies (water, electric or telephone)should collect garbage fees as a small monthly payment. Only way you will ever collect the fees.
2%percent increase in duties. That will make it more expensive to conduct business and put food on your plates. IMO you cannot keep increasing the duties.
Broken record……reduce Government civil service by 30%…..privitize….new income streams…..
Lachlan MacTavish
aye, the gov will take the easy route, increase duties and make everyone pay… then they don’t have take on the civil service
it’s now or never to refore the civil service
You think like me inregards to the garbage fees. There is no outside thinking when it comes to ways to collect revenue. I’ve been passing this idea on to friends of mine in the public service since suggestions were being asked of them, I posted under another headline and never realised your post. Not everyone gets a gargabefee invoice but we all get utilitiy bills that need to be paid. Hopefully this is what they are talking about when they they are suggesting a community charge, and I’m hoping the commercial ares will pay this too. Nothing to do with running off businesses, all they have to do is be smart with the fee amount being reasonable that would generate revenue for years to come and not knock millions off the deficit in one year. We always think short term, we need to think about was we can put in place that will eventually reverse this, the debt never came over night or in one year as I recall.
The elimination of the garbage is the one good idea so far in my opinion. The cost to collect it does not cover the amount collected. If it is increased then more people would simply not pay. The political will is not there to take people to court for non-payment of $100. So by getting rid of it there may also be a saving in the personnel that collected what was paid. In addition,if people have already paid for the collection via the duty then they are less likely to take garbage to throw in the swamp. Next could be the privitasation of the skip rental. Then there would be no more big trucks or containers to purchase, maintain, drive, or people to collect the fee, etc. More real savings.
I do agree that the duty for items that are difficult to dispose of and very unfriendly to the environment should be increased by a larger amount. Likewise the environmentally friendly products should have the duty lowered. Thus reducing the landfill. More savings.
A community service fee?????
You’re right that he will find a way that it does not p**s off his WB constituents. Bayers refused the Cruise Ship Port in WB but now he will try to force a Cargo Port on EEnders because they can’t vote him out.
While I can’t argue with the math, the premise of proposed tax on cigarettes is flawed. Again, sin taxes can not be relied upon like your proposing. Especially at 5 bucks extra a pack, that’s basically one step short of prohibition. If you make smokes 13 dollars a pack then get ready to see boats from Jamaica importing cigarettes instead of weed. Which is why you don’t jack up sin taxes to some extreme amount. The market will decide how to get those smokes in on the black market at a lower price and we will also see people rob stores at night for a carton of Marlboro Reds on a routine business. With your proposed tax rate a carton of 10 packs would cost $130 bucks. Thats like a box of gold dust there. Sin taxes won’t get anyone out of this hole. Cayman got drunk on having its cake and trying to eat it too. Well the cake is in the belly and everyoneknows what the next step of digestion is. It may already be there. You can tax the hell out of expats but they will just stop coming because they don’t have to be here in the first place. Its not too cheap relocating to Cayman as it is and if the high food and drink prices and the downturn doesn’t get rid of them then the rollover will. So no one is going to want to come to a country that promises to tax them just because they are foreign and then kick them out once they’ve gotten used to the place. Some hotels would almost certainly close down their expat labor forces were taxed for sending money home or just for being in the country at all.
The solution is both complicated and simple. You need to spend less money than you make. That’s the simple part. How to do it when your government owns a failing airlines and a turtle farm that throws away as much money pound for pound as the amphibian excrement it allows to flow into the reefs. National pride may sound all well and nice but it doesn’t make any money. But you know who does make money? Anyone who signs a contract with the CIG. Who pays for it? A bank loan. Who pays for that bank loan? Another bank loan. Does this remind you of how any recent worldwide economic collapse began? Cayman Islands Ltd. is a failing business and needs to act as if it is in liquidation mode. Hack off whatever is failing or can be lived without, and keep the rest. Shut down b.s. departments, fire some others, make the others work weekends to get the job done. Reward them for staying, save the rest of the money to pay off debts and implement the most painless common sense yet effective tax possible. One idea is to take a certain percentage of the money needed to run any various district, divide that by its residents and have them make a one time payment or break it into their paychecks. I know that sounds like an income tax, because it is. Cayman needs an income tax or at least a way better sales and business tax. The money has to come from somewhere and apparently the government that represents only 15,000 registered voters out spent its revenue by more than $80 million. A shocking amount. Some major American cities with many times more land mass and people haven’t run into the red like that. Caymanians, I understand your point of view in not wanting to pay an income tax but what other solution is there? You either lose your over paid civil servant jobs or put something in the kitty. You can’t rely on tourism or the financial industry anymore to cover all the expenses of having bloated offices full of desk jockeys. Cayman needs to open up big time, your cultural conservatism will also hurt. The bars will tell you they’d make a ton more money if they could stay open later although others would say that would create more drunk drivers on our roads. Institute a small gas tax and your liable to piss off everyone but then again it may be an excuse to at least standardize the bus system in Cayman. Exit visa charges are already high and the cruise ships would balk at raising them more than likely as would the air carriers. Allow for business on Sunday of all types and not just Mimosa laden brunches for expats. I mean my god man, you realize how much lost revenue we’re talking about right there? Open everything on Sundays and badabing badaboom there is an extra few million in sales and revenue. Find ways to cut costs at the airport and find ways to make existing agencies more efficient. Stop buying drug enforcement tools, that war is expensive and a failure by pretty much every expert in the world. Focus on decriminalizing marijuana or at least turning an eye. It costs too much to enforce, put on trial and incarcerate a ganja smoker to justify. Make the courts lean. Cayman has too many lawyers and too many cases go to trial for its size. More plea bargains and well monitored probation are needed and less people in Northward.
Other things to stop spending money on? Hero’s Day, way overpriced and hardly a true Caymanian holiday to begin with.All parades and events must be paid for by their sponsors if they are not already. The government needs to rapidly curtail wasting money on poorly conceived PR missions. Stop sweet heart scholarship deals given out to government cronies. Put pressure on the Governor to actually feel bad for how much money he makes. The government needs to force people to pay for garbage certificates and other essential services. Try shutting down government for a little while or only having people work 4 days a week in civil positions. Everyone basically shows up for half the day on Fridays anyways. The trick is to do all this stuff without scaring off all ready very scared business owners and potential investors. Don’t react punitively, just sensibly and make sure everyone knows its for the long term. Don’t trust anything proposed as a temporary measure. That won’t work, a permanent tax is coming and if it isn’t it damn well should be if Cayman has a hope of building another road, maintaining the current ones or improving the school system for the next 10-20 years. Sorry for the rant, anyone have more thoughts on long term solutions?
PPM should also relinquish their paychecks as they are making the big bucks for doing nothing (even less than when they were in power). You seem to have all the answers but forget to mention the mismanagement of the sore loser PPM is what got us to this bad situation. We would be in a much better state if we did not have to service loans for all these mega schools, government admin building, roads and if we had not had to pay for the Chuckiegate and his extravagant expenses in tourism that yielded very little success, his Cayman Airways mismanagement (remember the Lion’s butt on the airplanes now and the two CEO’s one being unqualified?), the Matrix fiasco, the Helicopter debacle, etc.While I agree that we needed some of these projects, we did not need them all at the same time nor quite as extravagant. We needed roads but not if we are going to be in over our heads in debt over it. That is just fiscal imprudence. Anyway, it just burns me that the PPM and their blind supporters go on criticizing Mr. Bush and his actions but even in their press conference they couldn’t even provide alternative solutions. Please be helpful instead of antagonistic. We need all hands on board and the way you carry on is just so disgusting and further bury’s you as a party. As a matter of fact, it’s dead as far as most people are concerned. We sure don’t need that kind of blind arrogance in our leadership.
How qualified is Mac to take part in discussions with Economists etc of the FCO ????
of course he is….
he’s they guy who thought he could get rid of pirates week on his own -oops
he’s the guy who thought you can skip pension payments and never make them up -oops
I’ve thought hard and long about this, and think I can guess what is going to happen next.
Bush will gladly fly to England ( on the tax payers money ofcourse) to show the FCO how badly we are in dept with messy paper work, and happly be turned away.
He’ll come back to Cayman and put the country in histaria. Once that happens, two things might occur:
He’s either going to become the savior of the Cayman islands, and show us the mony, because we were’nt broke to begin with.(What we Caymanians call "The sheet ova u head syndrome".
OR
He’s going to push the country for a DART "Bail" out.
Then you all can use your imagination on what happens next. So long cayman! Hello Dart Islands.
Can you really believe this:
Our LOGB and his entourage has gone to the UK to sit around and wait until the UK decides to speak with them.
Unfortunately his entourage forgot to take along Caymans tin cup so they will not be able to beg the UK to bail us out.
52,000 Residents – 30,000 each day use their phone whilst driving. Introduce $100 fixed fee fines for doing so. Put police officers on 5% commission of fines for successfully imposed. 20,000 x $95 per day = $693,500,000 per year. Solved! Agree slightly less in second year – say half = still $ 346,500,000.
Are you nuts? You must kidding right?
No I am not kidding
Immediately impound and subsequently auction off all vehicles parked next to public roadways with for sale signs on them. Impose fines on those placing tacky advertising signage along same roadways as they amount to nothing more than littering. Call it the revenue collection and beautification project. Kill two birds with one rock stone.
Just a thought
I hope he flew coach class and not the usual First Class with the usual entourage!
can you say INCOME TAX??
""a community service fee, which he said would be a fixed fee for all Cayman Islands residents, based on their ability to pay""
Who is fooled by this language??–wake up Cayman.
Tim Ridley’s Recommendation is Marred
I TRULY BELIEVE A PROPERTY TAX, IS THE BEST TAX!
But I do not believe in taxing any Caymanian who has a property on which his/her home is situated on! Residential – home properties for Caymanian, should be exempted.
Tim says, exempting Caymanian homeowners would be bias – BUT THAT IS NONSENSE! SUCH A PROPERTY TAX WOULD BE LOOKING OUT FOR THE CAYMANIAN PEOPLE JUST LIKE WE LOOK OUT FOR THEM WHEN IT COMES TO JOBS. All the realtors don’t want Property tax, because they are profit-driven; they’re not for the people – their for profit! That is why they would even spend monies to campaign against this taxation. But such a taxation would not be hurting our financial industry… why do you think its been recommended by the experts! It is only arrogant Caymanians that are putting this option down for something worse – like income taxation!
With property tax, we can also give a higher tax rate to people’s living along beaches and adjacent to national trust parks and properties; and we could make millions upon millions of dollars off of those lands that have not been developed
THAT’S ALL I GOT TO SAY
On the other hand, we can still work on enlarging our Revenue base and cutting government expenditures
Peace
I’m sorry, I couldn’t control myself, I did everything I could. But now I need to say it Mr. A Good Property Tax"… YOU ARE A FIRST CLASS IDIOT.!!!!!!
Your comments, are typical of the Caymanian un-educated lower class. ( Before you jump in, this is not Caymanian bashing, every nationality has these kind of people around the world)…..
Why this brainless moron, writes this garbage, I can never begin to understand.
You start introducing taxes for the investors, the wealth creators, the entrepenenours, you can switch the lights off on Grand Cayman…….
PEACE!!!!
Not True
Mr. "I’m sorry, I couldn’t control"
A proper propertytax will not hurt our financial and banking industry; the only ones who will be hurt, is those foreignors who have invested in our lands…
lol…
Are you saying that those who are here, investing in our properties, are pouring in more monies into the Island than those foreignors who are using out banking services??? Are they so much of an asset to us???
Now… I agree with the other property option mentioned above, certain Caymanians should be exempted from it!
"In an interview with Reuters this weekend Bush listed a number of potential revenue raising measures, but officials from the UDP camp said yesterday that none of them were necessarily going to be implemented and were just merely “ideas that had been discussed”."
Oh Lordy….here we go again….Mac and his big mouth blabbering off whatever comes to mind followed by UDP executives having to step forward and play it down…..hey! all you ‘executives’….you not tired of this yet? think ya going be able keep this up for four years?! Good luck!
You people are so hell bent on Mckeeva Bush that its unbelievable; heres the reality: love em or hate em he’s our leader for the next four years and soon to be first ever Premier….gosh that hurts but its just the facts…anyway you wanna slice this thing Mac is the man and while I do not always agree with him I can say this without blinking my eye; he’s a better leader that anyone the PPM has to offer.
joke joke……hee hee!
So when it suits Cayman the Mother country comes in very handy when you want something (i.e money!). Otherwise, it’s ‘away with the expats stealing our jobs… we don’t need the UK! Rah rah rah….
Very contrary!
Cayman wants nothing from the UK, the only thing they ever got was their legal system.
Please read more Cayman does not need Westminsters money, only approval on a loan already organised with local banks. It is not even a guarantee they are after, only permission.
Even as a British expat I can see that
CARBON TAX
http://www.carbontax.org/
milk the money where it will benefit us in the long run
After giving it much thought I really believe a $.25 per gallon duty on gas would solve many problems. It would could be paid when the fuel is delivered to the stations. that would ensure the funds are collected and get to the government without getting lost. An average car would spend $4.00 to $7.00 extra per fill up, a gas guzzler would of course end up paying more, as it should be! This would encourage people to reduce the amount they drive or carpool. The duty would be on fuel for motor vehicles only, so it would not increase other utilities.
I agree. Gas is ridiuclously undertaxed in Cayman. It is an obvious source of extra revenue.
With a bit of luck the civil service pay cut may just be sufficient to cover the cost of this trip. Do these people know of video conferencing and FedEx? CNS do you know how many besides a couple of MLAs have gone in this party?
Good question? however I am sure that its a lot less than the usual crowd Clifford took with him on his trips…..
You are so small minded!! Do you really think that the FCO office would have accepted a FEDEX envelope from the LOGB and discussed it over the phone. These are high level discussions where our party leaders need to sit down face to face with these people and be able to look them in the eye and deal with these issues in an environment that allows this. No amount of video conferencing would work either in my opinion.
Of course one would assume that this is coming from one of the folks from the "sore loser" party otherwise known as the PPM. I say this because it would be like them to send of a document such as this in a FEDEX envelope and wait for an answer to be returned. Oh right I forgot, they(PPM) were mislead and wasn’t aware that we were in a recession!!
Kudos Mac for taking the bull by the horn. Don’t let these "sore losers" waste your time or side track you..When they can offer decent solutions, then and only then, should you even bother with them. They are totally useless in my mind!!
Enough of the ‘sore loser’ story…..PS: I’d much rather be a sore loser than a loser, if ya know what I mean…..
I’m assuming you think that only the "sore losers" will suffer if Cayman fails?
"Totally useless in my mind" you say. I question if you have one.
The $0.25 per gallon tax on Gas is a great suggestion and should be adopted (it would certianly encourage me to carpool).
Heil Mac was missing from the end of your comments. The point remains that we need to be careful about the way money is spent. Yes the PPM wasted money however that does not mean that the UDP should be wasteful also
This is exactly why Cayman will continue to go down. When you sit there and argue about who’s a sore loser from who’s not. The whole thing is getting so damn boring, not to mention annoying. Last time I checked the elections were over. So just put a cork in it will yah… Geesh!
I agree with the hoards that an income tax and even a small property will scare of scores of Americans. I mean right now you can bet your bottom dollar most Americans with any investments in Cayman love it because its tax free. As an American we often love starting things like the second most expensive wars in world history (Iraq, Afghanistan) but we don’t like paying for them. Cayman has a very American mindset despite the Union Jack and short stack Jack who lives on the beach. Cayman wants big expensive schools, which were probably way too expensive, well they have to be paid for. Cayman wants roads? Those got to paid for too. New airport improvements, someones got to pay. But Cayman’s main selling point to people not looking for a tan is that Cayman is tax free and low fee banking. Kim Lund was right to say that even a small property tax would scare the crap out of people with condos because they would essentially say to themselves that’s the end of the party and look to get out before the next government raised those taxes. Income tax? Woah, watch those expat divers, concierges, golf pros, journalists, technicians and almost anyone not a fund manager fly off this island in droves, American Airlines will make a killing. Wages are frozen across the board in Cayman and a lot of people are not making pay roll right now. So now duty tax? Sheesh, talk about trying to get blood out of a stone. Now people will be inclined to buy even less junk which is not how you get the economy back to normal at all. Things on Cayman already cost way, way too much. There is no quick fix as McKeeva should be saying. This will take years to work out slowly and thats sometimes what the right thing takes, lots of time. Cayman needs to build a sustainable economy and really invest hard core in the younger generation tobe business minded. Cayman needs a lottery although lotteries are not the ultimate solution. The solution is a lot of little things. But in the end, people want services from governments then they don’t like paying, this government just needs to balance the freaking budget, cut non essential services and work to drive prices and waste down. But as corrupt as the system is, its built on bloating budgets and projecting revenue shortages. A lot can be done but so far everything that McKeeve is proposing (then taking back) is the wrong thing for Cayman. Starter solutions include; collection of outstanding fines, collection of loans owed to CIG, firing of redundant civil service staff, reduction of frivilous costs in government offices. Do what functioning compaines do to survive and cut the overhead swiftly. That means selling Turtle Farm even for a loss and privatizing Cayman Airways. Anymore suggestions?
Amen brother.
As an American condo owner from a high property tax state, I can attest that one of the reasons I invested in Cayman, other than the beauty of the island and its people… was the lure of not paying any ongoing property taxes. If it is one thing we Americans know well about property taxes, it is that they DO NOT adhere to the old adage "what goes up must come down", they just keep going up.
Since a lottery has been tossed around as a possible remedy, what about an "International" lottery open to non-Caymanians that would be serviced/played via the internet? Not an international taxation expert, but I understand that many jurisdictions do not collect income taxes on ‘foreign" earned income. Not sure if lottery winning are classified as income, but if so, it sure would be enticing for a forgeiner to place any winnings into a Cayman bank acount and have it remain tax free. With the right marketing the potential lottery player pool would be much larger than the 53,000 or so Caymanians, bringing the potential revenue for the country to a level that can make up for many fiscal challenges. If lottery/gambling is a vice that Caymanians do not want to participate in, just have it open to foreigners.
We might have something to say about illegal on-line gambling targeted toward US citizens, pre-packaged with tools of tax evasion.
Perhaps we will send in the Marines after all.
In addition to selling off all government liabilities which will save the government monies in a few year to come let look at revenue measures.
1. Collection of outstanding legal income owed by condo and hotel owners, somewhere between $15 to $20 million; bank charges not paid since inception, $20 to $40 million; O/S immigration fees, $1 to $10 million for approximately $40 to $60 million. The chief reason for this oversight is that Government is TOOOOOOO BIG with tooooo many finance departments, Treasury, FS office, Budget office, Revenue Enhancement office, all doing the same thing and doing nothing to collect monies. What a shame to be paying six figure numbers to an unproductive and ineffective staff. Get rid of the Budget Office and the Revenue Enhancement Dept and leave the Treasury Dept to expost and collect the monies owed to government. In other words, clean up the mess of the civil service by liquidating and streamlining.
2. Double the cost of the first time work permits with the view of having the employer/employee share cost; double that cost after the third year renewal again having the costs shared or one third employer two thirds employee.
3. bring back the 4% impact fee first implemented in the 70’s for the seven mile beach developers;
4. Charge all inmates a fee to be in prision;
5. Bring back the head tax for every person on the island;
6. Tack on a fee to the phone companies for every phone call made;
7. Implement an animal licensing fee;
8. Implement, inforce and collect a vessel boat and personal watercraft fee;
9. Increase all company and financial institution fees;
10. Implement a fee on all wire and E-transfers;
When these suggestions are implemented we couls see as much as $100 to $150 million in new and owed revenues. Additional benefits would also be seen in the long run.
Ever since gas prices dropped last year I have been questioning why the CUC duty rebate was not abolished. This could have put millions of dollars back in the government coffers. It made no sense to keep the rebate in place and the only conclusion I can draw is that the PPM purposely left it in place for political reasons.
Obviously it was left in place to help poor people at a time when many are struggling. What is interesting is that so many were screaming about the 2.4% increase in electricity bills in June apparently wanted to see a much higher increase 6 months earlier by removing the subsidy. Apparently no one recognized then that there had been a big drop fuel prices and therefore their electricity bills. One can therefore only conclude that the hue and cry in May was, and the suggestion that removal of the rebate should have been done much earlier is, for "political reasons".