“Pitchforks” Remark Revives Bermuda Row
Missouri Democratic Senator Claire McCaskill — who encouraged Americans to “take up pitchforks” when President Obama and Congressional Republicans reached an agreement to extend Bush-era US tax cuts for those making more than $500,000 a year – has reopened criticism about her own Bermuda-based reinsurance investments.
In December Sen. McCaskill — the 17th richest member of the 535 member United States Congress according to official records – made the pitchfork reference when she gave a speech saying Republicans had abandoned the middle class and were advocating “a permanent tax cut for the wealthiest Americans.”
The comment has reignited debate in Missouri — where she faces re-election in 2012 — about the Bermuda reinsurance company she and her husband have money invested in.
Her Bermuda assets have once again become a topic of discussion on blogs, radio talk shows and in the editorial and letter columns of Missouri newspapers.
Sen. McCaskill has repeatedly denied her family’s part-ownership of Bermuda-registered Rural Reinsurance Company International fits the legal definition of a tax shelter after the issue first surfaced in a 2006 debate with her Republican challenger.
Her opponent accused her of hypocrisy for co-sponsoring legislation supported by President Obama to crack down on overseas jurisdictions branded as tax shelters by the US Internal Revenue Service in light of her family’s own activities in Bermuda.
Sen. McCaskill’s Bermuda connection has resurfaced from time to time since then. In 2009, Missouri Republican Party chairman David Cole chastised her, saying: “Sen. McCaskill continues to rationalise the existence of her family’s Bermuda-based tax shelter. But newspaper articles, ethics watchdogs, and her own past statements make it clear that she is not being honest with Missourians.”
According to her personal financial disclosures, the investment in the Bermuda reinsurance company is valued at between $500,001 and $1,000,000.
The “Bermuda-based reinsurance company shares attributes with a tax shelter”, the “Kansas Daily Star” has reported. “Some experts say that if a reinsurance firm does not have employees or offices and does not market its services, its purposes are suspect.
“It’s all about avoiding taxes, said Robert McIntyre, director of Citizens for Tax Justice, a Washington watchdog group. ‘That’s the whole point of them.I’ve heard so many excuses for doing it. But why is it in Bermuda? There’s only one reason. Because of taxes’.”
