Following up on last week's post, Morgenthau: These Islands Aren’t Just a Shelter From Taxes:  New York Times, Tax Evasion vs. Avoidance, as Seen From the Caymans, by Anthony Travers (Chairman, Cayman Islands Stock Exchange):

As he did during a long and distinguished career as Manhattan district attorney, Mr. Morgenthau continues to conflate illegal tax evasion and lawful tax avoidance.

The allegations of bank secrecy in the Cayman Islands are the purest nonsense. Since 1990, the Justice Department has had full access to any account in Cayman in relation to all crimes and anti-money-laundering efforts, and following a 2001 treaty with the United States, the same access has been extended to the IRS. Further, it is American tax law that provides for American corporations to defer taxation by reinvesting overseas.

Articles like this are not merely unfair to the Cayman Islands; they also prevent focusing on the true nature of the problem — the tax deferral provisions of United States law.