Celebrity political pundits: Island the least of concerns on US agenda

The Royal Gazette
Celebrity-status political pundits Mary Matalin and James Carville say Bermuda might come up in damning news reports about offshore centres and occasionally be blamed by Capitol Hill legislators for America's job woes - but the Island really isn't the problem.Nor is it ever likely to register at the top of American lawmakers' political agenda, the couple told The Royal Gazette.The Island has been caught up in recent years in a high-profile US legislative and media debate on the impact to America from corporate inversions - US companies that move their headquarters offshore for tax reasons. Calls to shut down a so-called “Bermuda tax loophole” became a frequent reference by Senator John Kerry in his fight for the Presidential office last year. More recently, New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, another Democratic hopeful - in his case for the office of New York Governor - renewed a focus on offshore areas like Bermuda and Barbados after a high-profile insurance probe highlighting questionable transactions between some US insurance carriers and their offshore subsidiaries. more...