TaxRambling.com

As anyone who knows me knows, my political leanings are to the left (Chris Bowen for PM with Andrew Leigh as Treasurer).

But I want to kick the Labor party, and especially Senator Sam, for their unprincipled “Cayman Island” tax attack on the Prime Minister.

While coaching Little Athletics today I hear a Dad say he would never vote for the Prime Minister because he has money in the Cayman Islands. This Dad has been fooled by Senator Sam’s lies… Let me explain.

As a member of Parliament Malcolm Turnbull put his investment under the management of others so he would not be deciding to buy or sell shares in companies that might be effected by things he votes on. Ethical!

He was the Communications Minister so he could not invest in an Australian balanced equity investment as he would indirectly own Telstra share so he gave the investment management to an overseas manager. Very Ethical.

He invests into the overseas investments as an Australian resident, and has not set up an overseas entity so is not warehousing low taxed income overseas but is paying tax on the gains in Australia. Very, Very Ethical.

If he had have put the money in a US investment house, the US government would keep a 10%-15% withholding tax on much of the gains and this would be a foreign income tax offset in his Australian return (the US get 15% and Australia gets somewhere near 34%, being 49% less 15%). But he invests through the Cayman Islands where there is no withholding taxes so Australia get the full 49%. He intensionally did this to not reduce tax (it does not change the tax he pays in total) but to make sure all the tax is paid in Australia. Very, Very, Very Ethical and Patriotic!

Senator Sam and the Opposition Leader trying to fool people that the PM has been anything but amazingly ethical and above board is the work of moral (and intellectual) pigmies! Very, Very Unethical. But not unexpected from Senator Sam.