Good can come out of this. The Romney affair may actually force the shouting media and their politician friends to finally concede that:

1. Romney and others (including at least one former Democratic President) are structuring their affairs entirely legally under the US Tax Code and other regulations by investing in offshore funds;
2. The designers of the US tax regime knew exactly what they were doing - encouraging long term investments that generate capital gains rather than current income;
3. There is nothing illegal in investing in Cayman funds and other vehicles, or in having an account in Cayman.

This of course has nothing to do with UK politicians stupidly trying to interfere with US tax policy (they will be totally and rightly ignored by the US). And equally they do themselves a great disservice by and have no business trying to interfere in the domestic tax regime of the Cayman Islands. So we should ignore them too, and point out why.
Tim Ridley

Just in case anyone wanted to 'educate' Mr. Cryer, here is the link to his profile on the BBC: http://news.bbc.co.uk/democracylive/hi/representatives/profiles/25579.stm
His email address: john.cryer.mp@parliament.uk
Feel free to congradulate him for his pompous ignorance that should be an embarrassment to all U.K. MPs. Sadly, they all probably support him for being a good chap by bashing those pesky 'Tax Havens'. 

Idiotic grandstanding. This guy is just trying to get some headlines that will appeal to the lowest common denominator of UK voters.  You can't "close" a tax haven any more than one country can "close" another country.  And they can't decide what kind of tax laws another country should have (even a dependent territory).  Perhaps the aptly-named Mr Cryer doesn't actually understand that. But most likely he does and he is just making empty noise to get some media attention.
The real problem is that the UK has a draconian, confusing bureaucratic tax system rife with double and even triple and quadruple taxes that fleeces it's most productive citizens and in return provides public services bordering on third world standards.  The difference is accounted for by waste, incompetence, greedy politicians and an army of overpaid and overpensioned civil servants and consultants that generate nothing but inefficiency. That's what makes tax neutral jurisdictions like ours look attractive.
If they really wanted to do something about Cayman they would restructure their own tax system into something more tolerable for its corporate and private citizens, and that provided some commesurate level of benefit. 
If they ever start down that path Cayman should begin to worry.  As long as they limit themselves to impotent motions to "close" Cayman we can sleep easy.

Last time I heard the "city of London" was the largest ONSHORE tax havens on planet earth, so before Mr. Cryer goes running off his BIG mouth, he should really get his own house in order first before blabbering off on the Cayman Islands.
See a nice article from the guardian published in 2007, thing are worst now!
http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2007/jul/08/tax.business1
 
 
 
 
Do companies pay taxes in the "city of London"

This goofey MP, John Cryer, is as silly as much of the US press.  Romney has money in Cayman but it most certainly is not there as a tax dodge. He pays income tax on all Cayman assets and all Cayman assets are subject to estate tax. He has hid nothing and for Cryer to assert so  is a hysterical reaction which could serve to financially hurt the Cayman economy. Why dose'nt Cryer know the facts before he  goes public with absurd assertions. He is probably just another headline seeking  hack politician whose sole desire in life is to get re-elected any way he can without accomplishing anything along the way for the people of the UK. Cryer is an apt name.

If they are "alarmed" then they are idiots who have no understanding of the global financial system

"Positive moves on transparency" :  That is a complete joke.  Any country which has a special regime for companies which do not do business in that country and exempts them from disclosing directors, shareholders, accounts etc is rotten to the core.