I have the enjoyable privilege this week of attending the Sovereign Society’s Total Wealth Symposium being held at the Fairmount Southampton Resort in beautiful Bermuda. It’s my third time here in these islands and a great place to visit or live.
It is ironic that more than 200 speakers and attendees have gathered in what now is one of the United Kingdom’s last and the largest of its colonial possessions. This small group of islands is also one of the world’s most respected offshore financial centers and yet it is one of those “tax havens” that British Prime Minster, Gordon Brown, loudly proclaims he wants to abolish.
Gordon Brown is in major political trouble. Labour is 20 points behind the Conservatives in the polls with elections next year.
Under pressure from labor unions and a nose diving British economy, he is all too willing to throw to the left-wing wolves Her Majesty Qeen Elisabeth's overseas territories, including Bermuda and its 68,000 residents. As I have said, many of these territories are leading jurisdictions nurtured as tax havens by London for the last half century,(and by Brown himself, in a decade as Chancellor of the Exchequer).
Shipwrecked
Located in the north Atlantic, a few hundred miles east of South Carolina, Bermuda is this year celebrating its quadricentenary. First settled in 1609 by shipwrecked English colonists headed for Virginia, it was a major port for Union blockade runners aiding the Confederate cause during the American Civil War. It has since become a tourist destination for Brits and Americans.
Careful cultivation of international business and finance has allowed Bermuda to develop into a highly successful offshore financial center. Although a referendum on independence from the UK was soundly defeated in 1995, the present government has said that the issue of indepedence remains an open question..
World's Wealthist
Bermuda,often called "the jewel of the Alantic" enjoys the third highest per capita income in the world, (estimated at US$67,837 this year), more than 50% higher than that of the United States. Its economy is primarily based on providing sophisticated financial services for international business and luxury facilities for tourists.
A number of American reinsurance companies relocated to the island following the 9-11, 2001 terrorist attacks and again after Hurricane Katrina in August 2005, contributing to the expansion of already robust international business and insurance sectors. Bermuda has one of the world's largest reinsurance markets and is home to over 15,000 international business companies (IBCs), many hedge funds and many thousands of trusts.
Independence
The Progressive Labor Party, the majority in the Bermuda parliament,has supported independence from Britain in the past, but never pushed the issue, although it is been a subject of continuing debate.
Under British control since 1684, Bermuda supposedly is a "self- governing" colony. The Foreign Office in London calls it an "overseas territory." In recent years London has pushed Bermuda to weaken its financial privacy laws, sign tax information exchange agreements with the U.S. and other nations and to make tax evasion by foreigners a crime.
Bermuda has met all these demands. Nevertheless, the British Prime Minister suddenly has taken up the cry to abolish all tax havens – Bermuda included.
The Time is Now
Some 75% percent of Bermudans voted against independence when it was last put to referendum in 1995. More recent public opinion polls indicate independence sentiment has grown. And this is one U.K jurisdiction that could afford to stand on its own. Under the Westminster constitution granted to Bermuda, the island has the right to claim independence and London must recognize that claim if it is asserted.
Standing on its soil, we say: "Freedom for Bermuda" It's about time.
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