Miller Recommendations welcomed by Cayman
It was discussed that the Teather Report rejected the recommendation made by the UK government that the Cayman Islands should introduce direct taxation in order to solve its financial difficulties.
Recently, the government of the Cayman Islands has welcomed the conclusions of the Miller Report. Particularly, its main recommendation was that the introduction of direct taxation in the jurisdiction should be avoided.
In 2009, the Miller Commission was created by the Cayman government in response to the UK government’s concerns that the global economic and financial crisis has damaged the territory’s long-term economic and fiscal health.
In a statement, Cayman Premier, McKeeva Bush, commented on the content of the Miller report:
“On the first recommendation, that there should be no introduction of direct taxation in the Cayman Islands, it would be no surprise for you to hear that we agree with this general conclusion and believe that ideally new revenue measures will need to be kept at a minimum for the short- to medium-term. However, we are committed to examining ways to broadening the revenue base and we have given that commitment to the UK. We received no indications during the meetings that the FCO (UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office) will be pushing for direct taxes, although this is something that they would like for us to continue to consider in our efforts to broaden the revenue base.”
Also, Bush said that the government agreed in principle with most of the report’s other recommendations that include the privatization of government assets, restructuring government departments to cut costs, reducing civil service pensions, ensuring that civil servants contribute towards their healthcare costs, and cutting down top government salaries.