Premier To UK MP: “Bermuda Pays Its Own Bills”
Premier Paula Cox has issued a statement “to remind” a UK MP that Bermuda pays all of its own bills — including the bill for Bermuda’s Governor — after he criticized Bermuda’s tax policy and said “we are paying twice because we are paying for Bermuda.”
The Independent reports that John Mann [pictured], a member of the Treasury Select Committee and Labour MP for Bassetlaw, said that the Bermudian government needs to “take a stronger stance on tax avoidance schemes which hit British tax receipts.”
“This sort of scheme is running, meanwhile we are providing a legal base and defence for Bermuda because it is a British dependency,” he said.
Mr Mann added: “Firstly, we should be ensuring first of all that this is not possible across the EU. There is no point being in if you can tax dodge.
“Secondly, if Bermuda or any other British dependency wants our help with defence, then it should stop operating this sort of tax policy. We are paying twice because we are paying for Bermuda.”
Premier Paula Cox said: “The Bermuda government will continue to stand strong for Bermudians and we will continue to work to attract new business to our shores that provide opportunities for our people.
“Bermuda is a global financial centre that offers speed to market, intellectual capital and an stable environment from which to operate a global business. Since the beginning of international business in Bermuda this has been our main drawing card.
“Bermuda is an international leader in tax transparency and is the Vice Chair of the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for tax Purposes.
“We have no intention of changing our centuries old tax laws which continue to serve the needs of our people.
“I would also take this opportunity to remind Mr. Mann that Bermuda pays all of its own bills, including the bill for Bermuda’s Governor,” concluded Premier Cox.
These comments came after online giant Google was accusing of using registered subsidiaries in Ireland and Bermuda to reduce their tax payments. Mr Mann said it was “entirely improper and immoral” that Google should pay that amount of tax .
He wants to bring Google executives in front of the politicians’ panel to answer questions as to why it paid £6 million [$9.4m] on a total revenue of £395 million [$619m] last year.
A Google spokesman said the firm abides by all tax laws. “We make a substantial contribution to the UK economy through local, payroll and corporate taxes,” he said.
“We also employ over a thousand people, help hundreds of thousands of businesses to grow online and invest millions supporting new tech businesses in East London. We comply with all the tax rules in the UK.”
We won’t change centuries old tax laws? I didn’t know the PLP had been in power for so long. I was also unaware that Bermuda has offices around the world that holders of a UK or Bermuda Passport can turn to if help is needed. One lives and learns every day.
Read again. She didnt say PLP created the tax system, it was in general termes.
Clear Sarcasm, how u missed that is any ones guess
Maybe the UK should stop trying to attract all those French citizens who are looking to move out of France and avoid Hollande’s 75% top tax rate? England is trying to become a tax haven for the rich French.
I believe the gentleman said “legal base and defense”. i.e. Privy Council & warships to repel invaders if needed. I don’t believe we pay for either of those so he is in fact – correct! I might add that we seem to have exported a few gang refugees to blighty lately and we don’t pay for those either.
Oh shut up you p#%ck,
Bermuda pays Its own way and always have.
The British government doesn’t pay for our regiment or for our police or the governor.
So go f yourself and stop talking like a British as#%^%}]!
If you don’t like these shores than go back to cold tired ass England.
Ohhhhh but no you won’t do that, haven forbid.
@ Finally… truth hurt mate? You are exactly the reason for all the hate in Bermuda. Feel the love mate…feel the love!
As a bermudian, i vouch for idiots like you to be sent somewhere…not england tho, too cold for you there
– hold off on the nasty language — not necessary to use it in order to get your point across. Shame, shame …………
So Bermuda pays its way, does it, when Bermudian gangsters go to live in the UK to avoid their gangster enemies in Bermuda?
Their fawking families pay for them!!!!
SHUT UP!!!
NEXT!!!
You’re talking crapola.
UK may provide defense for us, then they send us the bill. ie the last riots prompted a million dollar bill.
Pay bills…are you kidding???? The current govt. has mismanaged THE PEOPLES money so bad that they shouldn’t even be allowed to touch it anymore. Since were so quick to call a consultant in maybe a consultant should come in to run Govt.’s finances? Think we’ll ever see that day, NOT!
When was the last time we paid our bills ? all we do is borrow money !!!!!
maybe a consultant should come in to run Govt.’s finances?, andrew brimmer has being doing been that for some time at the price of $262k per year at the cost to the bda tax payer
I’m surprised Mrs. Cox isn’t consulting herself for the extra paycheck.
Like purported pastor Bean?
OMG it gets worse!!!!
these sideshows, like the spat with Cayman, is only a welcome distraction for the PLP right now, it takes attention away from the real issues we face. Paula gets to thump her chest a bit and declare nationalistic pride, all while “paying our own bills”… with borrowed money no doubt!
don’t get caught up in this, the important topics are national debt and jobs. if the PLP doesn’t turn this around asap they should be voted out for anything-else-but-this.
“PLP doesn’t turn this around asap they should be voted” as long as the have the naive & gullible voting for them that won’t be happening
It only proves one thing , Ignorant people reside and populate in all strata’s of society .
“Bermuda pays it’s own Bills”
I certainly pay my own bills, and i would guess that Cox pays her own bills as well along with the general public. Does “Bermuda” mean Bermudians? if not, i beg to differ that “Bermuda is paying its own bills”, China is, and the Banks.
Kenny, the sad thing is, I know of many PLP suporters (whom I’m friends with)that will always vote PLP as long as their leader is black. They’re vote has nothing to do with choosing whats best for Bermuda, but simply colour.
Same…its insane.
The sad thing is your right! You also forgot to tell the rest of Bermuda that’s why the UBP/OBA is trying to front a black leader and black candidates. The end of the day no black Bermudian will vote for a white UBP/OBA leader ever again.
I’m not saying it’s a good thing, but hey both parties are playing the race flag on all accounts.
The whole Island knows that Mr. Michael Dunkley is smarted then Mr. Craig Cannonier. We all know Craig is just the face of the OBA, and the rest of the party is white. I would love for Mr. Dunkley to be the next Premier, but for the UBP/OBA to take the win from Paula they have to keep Craig at the front of the line for now. After the OBA wins the election I see Bob or Dunkley running the show and Craig stepping down.
At the end of the day it comes down too 3 important things the color of ones skin, the HAVES = UBP/OBA and HAVE NOTS = PLP.
Yes stupid same ges for the oba supporters!
Dick!
Give me a flipin break! Let me quote you here for everyone to see
“They’re vote has nothing to do with choosing whats best for Bermuda, but simply colour.”
May I remind you, and I hope it for the last time…that its the Black voters that (yea those ones whos vote has nothing to do with whats best for Bermuda) shift elections based on whats best for this country.. Its the White voters who have voted enblock for the same party since before I was born! Even when they HAD to realize that it could not be right what they were doing, at the expense of blacks. You should be ashamed to go there…. when Blacks have voted to make things better for all and not just themselves!
@ Aggrevated, if you digested my comment you would see that I said whom I’m friends with. I didn’t say EVERYONE!! And yes, the ones that I am friends with vote primarily on colour.
More spin by the PLP and even more by some of the comments here.
It is working.
Quo Fata Fuplp.
I fear for the children.
Thank you Premier Cox for standing up for us when so many of ‘us’ want to sell ourselves short.
While on the subject of bills etc.
Did she manage to collect the money from Pastor Bean?
If not, why not?
All bark and no bite!
John Mann is highly regarded on the Finance committee. So there should be robust and accurate reply.
@Finally
Bermuda does not host the Privy Council or pay for the Royall Navy warship stationed in the area. These are the only things being referred too by the loudmouth British MP.
The fact that you can’t read or comprehend the press statement properly means that you are easy bait for the spin served up by the Cabinet Office.
My family has been here for 130 years – how about yours?
I think people (including the Premier) are missing the point. He is complaining about the British having to pay the shortfall from missing tax revenues due to tax avoidance.
Just goes to show that when Labor MPs open their mouths is akin to a sewage overflow of useless words and baseless claims. There is no black or white when it comes to Labor MPs on either side of the pond, just a load of cogwash!
We when says “Bermuda pays its bills” she actually means “Bermuda borrows from other people and they pay our bills”.
Instead of building out public housing for ppl that can barely pay rent, why don’t the government approach GOOGLE and entice them to build a shop here and relocate their 1500 UK employees. Rent the ‘unsold’ Grand Atlantic Units and allow up to 50 car licenses for their employees to car pool. Give them 2 acres of South Side property or one of those nice buildings that is under utilized.
UM Hello Miss Premier! Have you forgotten that we still have an outstanding bill from the cleanup that England had to do when your predecessors instigated a riot due to issues that could have been simply solved through mediation. As usual plp takes their messes & sweeps them under the carpet & hopes no one remembers them.
Tommy! Watcha smokin bye? You sweet me….”when your predecessors instigated a riot” and “simply solved through mediation”?
Was mediation even an option? It must be great to look back through Bermuda’s history with your rose colored glasses on (hiding dem red eyes!).
“Former Governor Sir Peter Ramsbotham said entrenched racism turned Bermuda into “a one-party dictatorship” in the 1960s and ’70s and was the underlying cause of the 1977 riots.”
“Sir Peter said both Government House and the United Bermuda Party Government of the day had fully anticipated the executions would spark civil unrest and had been prepared for the ensuing paroxysm of burning and looting.”
SO UM HELLO TOMMY CHONG! Have you remembered yet what REALLY happened prior to the riot?
Sir Peter was deluded too.
Fact/ 2 out of as many as 6 were convicted of multiple murders.
Fact/ Bda still had the death penalty on the books and it was rightfully used.
Fact/ LBE and Julian turned it into a race issue and intentionally wound up the weak minded into a complete emotional frenzy.
Fact/ a lot of those same people are still messing up their own lives due to poor choices and bad decisions.
Fact/ thank heavens we can blame all of our problems on racism , and if we can’t we just rewrite history to suit ourselves.
I’m not sure what you expect Tommy to remember happening prior to the riots , but most of us remember a bunch of white people being murdered in cold blood by some blacks. Is that what you’re referring to ?
It was the black vote that kept the UBP in power. It was the black vote that gave the PLP power. It is the black vote that will give the OBA power in the next general election. Don’t under estimate the power of the black vote.
I wonder why…maybe because there are more blacks on the island????? There’s an idea…..
than it isthe blame of the ‘black vote; we are in this IRREPARABLE MESS!!!…how about that for black vote??????)(*&$%#@#
Ya your just saying as always, NOTHING!
I wish I was smoked up before reading your comment because it might of irritated me just a little less. Unfortunately your prejudice has lead you to a false ASSumption & made me have to bring out a can of textual whoop ass on you.
Here goes!
First of all Sir Peter Ramsbotham was the second governor after the assassination of Sir Richard Sharples who had been in Bermuda for less than a friggin year but he had to take the brunt of what the Bermudian government was doing at the time. RIIIIIIGHT! How did Sir Ramsbotham come upon this information about what was happening before him being governor? Since you seem to be clueless about this part of history I’ll enlighten you. The information was gathered by a mediator from Bahamas who was sent here by none other than ENGLAND’S GOVERNMENT. I’ll admit I’m not a rocket scientist but I know enough to know that a mediator job is mediation. RIOTS didn’t do JACK but cause a lot of mess to innocent hard working people’s businesses & lives & engrain the racial tension we have today within the psyche of plp & their supporters. The mediator was the one who brought light to what was going on in Bermuda to England which I might add could of been done in the first place by a certain lawyer at the time who received her degree in England. But did she? NOOOOOO SHE DIDN’T! WHY? Because she felt that Bermuda was better off being independent & her pride wouldn’t allow her to let england know instead she let her mates with the red headdresses do their thing while she pleaded with the courts run by the same government that oppress the people like they were going to lift their thumb off the power they had. Sir Edwin Leather didn’t even have an idea about the doings of UBP & even if the government anticipated civil unrest he didn’t or else he would have sent for English troops sooner so the riots would have not gotten as out of hand as they did. Isn’t it nice that we have a parent country constantly watching over us even though we have shown blatant disregard to them? Martin Luther King Jr. & Mahatma Gandhi have shown us that there are non violent ways of bringing about a change but instead the path of violence mongers like Stokely Carmichael is taken because some’s main objective is not real peace but power candy coated with a false peace.
To simple facts & Tommy Chong,
If by simply quoting Sir Peter Ramsbotham I can be called racist or prejudiced, so be it but Methinks thou doth protest too much!
Don’t shoot the messenger dudes, if the truth of what was Bermuda doesn’t jibe with your myopic recollections.
Sir Peter, while not a Bermudian, was an eminient statesman and I dare say a better judge of what Bermuda was and was in danger of being than either of you two.
Taken from The Telegraph:
“Peter Edward Ramsbotham was born on October 8 1919, the younger son of Herwald Ramsbotham, the Conservative politician who became Governor-General of Ceylon (1949-54) and was created a peer as Lord Soulbury (Baron in 1941, advanced to Viscount in 1954).
After Eton and Magdalen College, Oxford, Ramsbotham joined the Army (Intelligence Corps) in 1943 and served throughout the remainder of the war, being mentioned in despatches and awarded a Croix de Guerre in 1945. He then joined the Control Office in Germany and Austria, serving as political officer in Hamburg.
He entered the Foreign Service by postwar examination in 1950, and worked on oil questions directly under Sir Roger Makins (later Lord Sherfield), who thought very highly of him. Ramsbotham was particularly articulate in his analysis of the problems which would be encountered in the next decade, those arising from the unexpected, sudden and massive increase in the supply of oil in Iran, the Gulf and Saudi Arabia.
He saw more clearly than most at that time how completely oil would transform the political and economic situation in the Middle East; and in this respect he had more influence on policy than would have been usual for a comparatively junior official.
In 1953 he was posted to New York as head of chancery in the UK delegation to the United Nations, serving under Sir Pierson Dixon during the Suez crisis.
Having returned to London in 1957, he was promoted counsellor in 1961, becoming head of Western Organisations and the Planning Department. From 1963 to 1967 he was head of chancery in Paris, and after a further tour of duty in London became high commissioner in Cyprus in 1969.
As Ambassador to the US he enjoyed a warm personal relationship with President Carter who, together with politicians, labour leaders, journalists and even ordinary American citizens, very much regretted his leaving.
He departed in dignified silence – on the crest of a wave of sympathy – to serve out the remainder of his official career as Governor of Bermuda.
As Governor and C-in-C of Bermuda, his last post, Ramsbotham took the decision to call in British troops during the severe rioting which broke out in December 1977, in the aftermath of the hanging of two men convicted of the murder of the former Governor, Sir Richard Sharples, and his ADC.”
I certainly didn’t call anyone racist or prejudiced (not that I really care about such shallow accusations) so I really don’t know why you feel obligated to bring that up.
Regardless of Sir Peter’s background , a far as I’m concerned , he wasn’t from here so his perspective was, and naturally would be based on total local inexperience, and therefore much different than those who live here .
It’s not uncommon for all sorts of people not from Bermuda to speak as though ‘experts’ on issues or about people and circumstances that they have not grown up with .
It’s just when certain ones say certain things that resonate with one’s personal beliefs that they are suddenly considered luminaries of some sort.
Lord Pitt was another such person.
it is not plp pay our bills..it’s us who give these people to helpthemselves with our cash and show off about it..like cox..what an arrogant and ignorant woman…
this is FERAL govt…who taking our money and running wild all over the place and the ppl of BERMUDA living like SLUMS..they have the feral youths killing ppl,stealing from the tourists,dropping their babies so we must pay for them..IT TIME WE GET RID OF THIS FERAL GOVT CALLED THE PLP.