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Treasury Nominee & His Cayman Account

Mike

Well-known member
Lew’s Cayman Islands Fund a Likely Issue at Confirmation Hearings
By JONATHAN WEISMAN
As recently as 2010, Jack Lew, President Obama‘s nominee to be the next secretary of the Treasury, had $56,000 invested in a CitiGroup venture capital fund based in the Cayman Islands’ notorious Ugland House, a building whose mailboxes are home to nearly 19,000 corporate entities, many of them tax shelters.

The investment has been in public documents for years and drew no attention when Mr. Lew was confirmed to be deputy secretary of state in 2009 and director of the White House Office of Management and Budget in 2010.

But the fund is coming to light as Mr. Obama and Congressional Democrats are zeroing on taxes lost to off-shore entities, including hedge funds, as a way to stave off $1 trillion in across-the-board spending cuts set to begin March 1.

Aides in both parties said it was quite likely to come up during his confirmation hearing Wednesday. Senate Democrats are struggling to come up with a package of spending cuts and tax loophole closings that could stave off the automatic spending cuts — known as sequestration — for at least three months. Tax breaks for hedge fund managers and offshore tax shelters are a prime target.

The Finance Committee held hearings in 2008 burrowing in on Ugland House, a nondescript white building in George Town, Cayman Islands, that shelters a bewildering number of corporate headquarters.

“Today we will take a look at some ostensibly crowded halls, those of the Ugland House in the Cayman Islands,” Senator Max Baucus of Montana, the committee’s chairman, said, opening the hearing. “That is a remarkable five-story building that the G.A.O. tells us has some 18,857 tenants. Today we will examine whether many of those tenants are feasting at America’s taxpayers’ expense.”

Mr. Lew divested himself of the CitiGroup Venture Capital International Growth Partnership in 2010. When confirmed as budget director in 2010, he sold the investment at a loss, for $54,418.

“Jack Lew paid all of his taxes and reported all of the income, gains and losses from the investment on his tax returns,” said Eric Schultz, a White House spokesman. “The existence of Mr. Lew’s investment is not news to the Senate. Mr. Lew disclosed the investment in his prior confirmations, before three separate committees. There are no new facts that provide a basis for senators to reach a different conclusion about Mr. Lew’s nomination than they reached twice before in this administration.”

Mr. Lew did not create, manage or operate the fund, officials said. Republican aides did not suggest any illegality or tax cheating with the disclosure. Indeed, Republicans on the Finance Committee had leaped to the defense of Henry Paulson, President George W. Bush‘s last Treasury secretary, when numerous Cayman Island investments surfaced during his confirmation.

Senator Charles E. Grassley of Iowa, then the Finance Committee’s ranking Republican, accused the president of hypocrisy.

“President Obama has been almost obsessively critical of offshore investments,” Mr. Grassley said. “He called Ugland House ‘either the biggest building or the biggest tax scam on record.’ That makes this Cayman Islands investment of his top official and now Treasury secretary nominee worthy of attention. The irony is thick. Members of the Finance Committee will question Mr. Lew about his foreign investments at the hearing.”
 
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Anonymous

Guest
I think they should close the loopholes that allow any US citizen to put money in foreign accounts without paying US tax on it the same as if it was in a US account-- since these folks use the power and might built by the US taxpayer to protect their rears and their funds...

If not- let the military force of the Cayman Islands be the "policemen of the world" and protect Romney's/Lews $millions....
 

Mike

Well-known member
Offshore accounts are not tax free. At some point when the money comes back into the U.S. it is taxed. Including the interest accumulated.

All you do is "Defer" the taxes until a later date just like other completely legal investment options here in the U.S.................

Offshore Investing Creates US Jobs

There was an explosion of outrage about Mitt Romney’s $25 million investment in the offshore tax haven country of the Cayman Islands, as if there was something illegal or mysterious about the investing offshore. Yet there is no similar media outrage when Google pays only 2.4 percent in total income taxes because they utilize an extremely effective legal “offshore” investment and tax strategy known as a “Double Irish Sandwich”.

It’s a disgrace that the media and the government characterize legitimate investors, who invest in “tax havens,” as somehow circumventing American tax law and acting in an un-American illicit manner. The problem is that most Americans do not understand that if you have investments in mutual funds you most likely have investments “offshore”.

A “tax haven” is merely a country that offers foreign investors special tax benefits and incentives to invest in that particular country. Americans are shocked to learn that one of the largest “offshore tax havens” in the world is the – United States. For example, there is a foreigner investment program, whereupon foreign investors that invest a minimum of $500,000 into new U.S. businesses receive a Green Card. In addition, foreign investors in the U.S. do not have to pay capital gains taxes, income taxes or any other taxes associated with that investment or work.

For the media and the American government to disparage offshore investing is intellectually dishonest. For instance an American investing in Google is investing in a multinational corporation with offshore operations. Also there are investments known as American Depository Receipt (ADR), which are foreign corporations that are permitted to trade on American stock exchanges so long as they meet certain Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP).

Since ADRs are deemed completely legitimate and officially sanctioned by the American government, then by extension it stands to reason that it is perfectly legal and legitimate for American investors to invest in foreign (offshore) corporations through other countries that are considered tax havens. If they were not tax havens then why invest?

The United States tax law establishes that free Americans, unlike the evil socialist governments of Europe, are subject to American tax law regardless of where Americans work or live. In essence American rights and freedoms are subservient to America’s tax law. However a British citizen, unlike an American citizen, is not subject to taxes on income generated in America. Hence the reason the Beatles moved to the United States.

So to claim that American investors, who are investing in countries like the Caymans, are attempting to avoid taxes is like claiming that a New Yorker incorporating his business in Wyoming is attempting to circumvent taxes in New York State. It is simply disingenuous. The point is that Americans, regardless of where they work, live or invest are subject to and monitored by U.S. federal tax law.

Offshore tax havens control a great deal of investment capital globally. The fact that some offshore tax havens have been used to “launder” drug money is mostly hype created by the media in order to sell you misinformation.

If you analyze the issue of “laundering drug money” one can only conclude that one of the problem is being fostered by the federal government due to failed drug policies which are creating and encouraging a $360 billion annual drug industry. And for the record the United States is responsible for laundering its fair share of drug money. For example a story in the New York Times in December 2011, discusses the fact that the U.S. federal agents launder drug money for drug cartel kingpins. And the CIA partically funds operations with drug money and drug trafficing.

Offshore investing is very simple these days. And if you are currently investing in an “international” mutual fund you are investing in offshore companies. If you use Google as your search engine you are supporting an American corporation with extensive offshore operations.

For instance, Google uses an Irish corporation for income, in which the income is then transferred to an offshore Dutch corporation and then transferred to a Caribbean offshore tax haven in Bermuda. This strategy is all perfectly legal and apparently sanctioned by President Obama because Google’s chairman, Eric Schmidt, sits on the president’s job creation board. And the reason that Google states as the rationale for using this tax strategy is because U.S. corporate tax laws are too burdensome.

To place offshore investing into perspective you can look at it from the perspective an Individual Retirement Account (IRA) or 401k. Essentially, opening up an offshore investment account is as simple as opening an online trading account. Even though you must pay taxes on income, capital gains and dividends must pay taxes on gains “recognized”, which means that if you take money from an offshore account you must pay taxes on the amount earned.

Therefore, an American opening up an account in the Cayman Islands can grow their money tax “deferred” without any limits, much like you can in a traditional 401k or IRA. However, once you begin taking distributions then you must pay taxes on the “repatriation” of capital back into the United States.

One reason that individuals invest offshore is the hope that in the future the United States will once again reduce and/or eliminate the tax structure in the U.S. Corporations use offshore locations for a number of reasons.

For example, one reason one of the top 4 accounting firms such as “Price Waterhouse Cooper”, have offices in “offshore tax havens” in the Bahamas is that they are often times unable to legal conduct certain accounting activity in the U.S. because of legal, regulatory and often times “liability” issues. Often times, because of Sarbanes Oxley and other regulations, an international accounting firm with offices in the U.S. will not complete due diligence requested by an investment bank in the U.S. primarily due to liability issues in which potential investors can file frivolous lawsuits.

So before you go flying off the handle and begin demonizing evil “offshore” investors keep in mind you may be one of them. But more importantly, offshore investing is perfectly legitimate, legal and an intelligent investing strategy and tax avoidance strategy. And finally, offshore investing is critical to the U.S. economy because it is offshore investors that often times invest in new startup companies in America. And without those investments in new U.S. businesses, 70 percent of all the jobs created in America annually would not exist.
 
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Anonymous

Guest
Sen. Grassley: 'The irony is thick' in Lew’s Cayman Islands investment fund

By Justin Sink - 02/09/13 11:25 AM ET


Congressional Republicans are raising new questions about the Treasury nominee's offshore financial holdings.

Congressional Republicans are targeting Jack Lew's nomination to lead the Treasury Department, raising new questions about the former White House chief of staff's Cayman Islands financial holdings.


In a statement Friday, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) blasted the White House, saying "the irony is thick" after President Obama has voiced criticism over the use of offshore accounts to avoid taxes.

But the White House argues that Lew's financial holdings had been fully disclosed during his three previous confirmation hearings and that all appropriate taxes had been paid on the foreign holdings.

Moreover, it appears that Grassley and other Republicans have supported at least one other nominee — Bush Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson — who had extensive financial holdings in the Cayman Islands.
-----------------------

The financial disclosure forms of former Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson show investments between $15,001 and $50,000 in at least two funds that held a total of 21 Cayman investments. Those funds were administered by Goldman Sachs, which Paulson ran before joining the Bush administration.



Read more: http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/282079-grassley-sees-irony-in-lews-cayman-islands-fund-#ixzz2KQTZvaDW

The real irony is the Hypocritical partisanship backbiting these idiots continue to keep playing... It was OK for Paulson and Romney to have funds in the Caymans, but now its not for Jack Lew :???:
Rather than point fingers and call names- if putting money in the Caymans is wrong- outlaw it for everyone...
 

hypocritexposer

Well-known member
The financial disclosure forms of former Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson show investments between $15,001 and $50,000 in at least two funds that held a total of 21 Cayman investments. Those funds were administered by Goldman Sachs, which Paulson ran before joining the Bush administration.


So OT, are you invested in any "funds" that might possibly have foreign investments
 

hypocritexposer

Well-known member
Looks like it is the dems. who are being hypocritical


“Today we will take a look at some ostensibly crowded halls, those of the Ugland House in the Cayman Islands,” Senator Max Baucus of Montana, the committee’s chairman, said, opening the hearing. “That is a remarkable five-story building that the G.A.O. tells us has some 18,857 tenants. Today we will examine whether many of those tenants are feasting at America’s taxpayers’ expense.”


The flagged investment is a Citigroup employee investment fund called Citigroup Venture Capital International Growth Partnership II. Securities and Exchange Commission files list the address for CVCI as “South Church Street, Ugland House, Georgetown, Grand Cayman, Cayman Island.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2013/02/cayman-islands-investment-jack-lew-87400.html#ixzz2KRNb5tVH


Obama targets Cayman 'tax scam'

"You've got a building in the Cayman Islands that supposedly houses 12,000 corporations," he said during a Jan. 5, 2008, debate in Manchester, N.H. "That's either the biggest building or the biggest tax scam on record."
http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/article/2008/jan/09/obama-targets-cayman-islands-tax-scam/
 
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Anonymous

Guest
hypocritexposer said:
Looks like it is the dems. who are being hypocritical


“Today we will take a look at some ostensibly crowded halls, those of the Ugland House in the Cayman Islands,” Senator Max Baucus of Montana, the committee’s chairman, said, opening the hearing. “That is a remarkable five-story building that the G.A.O. tells us has some 18,857 tenants. Today we will examine whether many of those tenants are feasting at America’s taxpayers’ expense.”


The flagged investment is a Citigroup employee investment fund called Citigroup Venture Capital International Growth Partnership II. Securities and Exchange Commission files list the address for CVCI as “South Church Street, Ugland House, Georgetown, Grand Cayman, Cayman Island.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2013/02/cayman-islands-investment-jack-lew-87400.html#ixzz2KRNb5tVH


Obama targets Cayman 'tax scam'

"You've got a building in the Cayman Islands that supposedly houses 12,000 corporations," he said during a Jan. 5, 2008, debate in Manchester, N.H. "That's either the biggest building or the biggest tax scam on record."
http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/article/2008/jan/09/obama-targets-cayman-islands-tax-scam/


Congressional Republicans are targeting Jack Lew's nomination to lead the Treasury Department, raising new questions about the former White House chief of staff's Cayman Islands financial holdings.

So Congressional Republicans are now Democrats :???: :roll:
 

hypocritexposer

Well-known member
Oldtimer said:
hypocritexposer said:
Looks like it is the dems. who are being hypocritical


“Today we will take a look at some ostensibly crowded halls, those of the Ugland House in the Cayman Islands,” Senator Max Baucus of Montana, the committee’s chairman, said, opening the hearing. “That is a remarkable five-story building that the G.A.O. tells us has some 18,857 tenants. Today we will examine whether many of those tenants are feasting at America’s taxpayers’ expense.”


The flagged investment is a Citigroup employee investment fund called Citigroup Venture Capital International Growth Partnership II. Securities and Exchange Commission files list the address for CVCI as “South Church Street, Ugland House, Georgetown, Grand Cayman, Cayman Island.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2013/02/cayman-islands-investment-jack-lew-87400.html#ixzz2KRNb5tVH


Obama targets Cayman 'tax scam'

"You've got a building in the Cayman Islands that supposedly houses 12,000 corporations," he said during a Jan. 5, 2008, debate in Manchester, N.H. "That's either the biggest building or the biggest tax scam on record."
http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/article/2008/jan/09/obama-targets-cayman-islands-tax-scam/


Congressional Republicans are targeting Jack Lew's nomination to lead the Treasury Department, raising new questions about the former White House chief of staff's Cayman Islands financial holdings.

So Congressional Republicans are now Democrats :???: :roll:


Do you believe they have a problem with legal investments in foreign countries?

They are not bringing up the issue because they disagree with the investments. Even you can't be that stupid. They are bringing up the issue to show how hypocritical the left is, and how the Left use such issues in their feigned outrage with the "rich", in their attempt win re-election, so they can continue such investments themselves, while stealing from those they have fooled.
 

hypocritexposer

Well-known member
But that's not the issue. The issue is the idea that it is evil to have an offshore account - at least it was for Mitt Romney. It raises dark specters of hidden income and avoidance of taxes.

In the case of Jack Lew, President Obama apparently believes that some offshore accounts are more equal than others.

Read more: http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2013/02/some_offshore_accounts_are_more_equal_than_others.html#ixzz2KRveEO9J
Follow us: @AmericanThinker on Twitter | AmericanThinker on Facebook
 

Big Muddy rancher

Well-known member
hypocritexposer said:
Oldtimer said:
hypocritexposer said:
Looks like it is the dems. who are being hypocritical









http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/article/2008/jan/09/obama-targets-cayman-islands-tax-scam/


Congressional Republicans are targeting Jack Lew's nomination to lead the Treasury Department, raising new questions about the former White House chief of staff's Cayman Islands financial holdings.

So Congressional Republicans are now Democrats :???: :roll:


Do you believe they have a problem with legal investments in foreign countries?

They are not bringing up the issue because they disagree with the investments. Even you can't be that stupid. They are bringing up the issue to show how hypocritical the left is, and how the Left use such issues in their feigned outrage with the "rich", in their attempt win re-election, so they can continue such investments themselves, while stealing from those they have fooled.

Maybe you should type that out in Capitals and double space that for OT. If he reads it a couple times maybe he will understand your point. :lol: :lol:
 

hopalong

Well-known member
oldtimer claims to have stock in Kimberly-Clark (Depends) So you can bet he has funds in an offshore account :wink: :wink: that puts him in the ranks with the rest of us grey haired old men with a few bucks :wink: :roll: \

EH??
 
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