Taxing a Tax Haven?
[T]he Foreign and Commonwealth office in Britain, which oversees the Caymans and can veto foreign lending requests, has delivered an ultimatum: The rest of the $284 million the Cayman government says it needs will not be forthcoming until this offshore financial center imposes spending cuts and considers some form of direct taxation on businesses here and its 57,000 residents.
For a tropical paradise that has never taxed income, property, corporate earnings, retail sales or capital gains, such a suggestion borders on heresy.
For more information, see Landon Thomas, Jr., Offshore Haven Considers a Heresy: Taxation, N.Y. times, Oct. 3, 2009.