Albert Tatlock Posted July 16, 2006 Share Posted July 16, 2006 According to MR "Chief Minister Donald Gelling will lead a Manx delegation on a trip to the United States on Sunday (today). The party, also including the treasury and home affairs ministers, the attorney general, the chief secretary and the director of external relations, will be travelling to Washington DC. Mr Gelling says they will meet government officials and build on contacts made on a previous visit in November last year." What do you expect our representatives to come back with, and do you think previous trips to the US have been beneficial for the island? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iom_cb Posted July 16, 2006 Share Posted July 16, 2006 sounds like a bit of a jolly to me. havn't they heard of the telephone or email? Do we really need to send them in person at the tax payers expense? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gladys Posted July 16, 2006 Share Posted July 16, 2006 I'm ambivalent about these kind of things. Personal contact is very important and face to face meetings can often bridge gaps that can never be overcome through any other form of communication. On the other hand, such visits MUST be targeted and have a full progamme of meetings with those who are in a position of influence for our cause. Having said that, meeting the politicos is pretty pointless as they could be gone in the next election, but if you can get at the bureaucrats you stand a better chance of opening an ongoing dialogue and getting the message to people who are likely to be around for some time. So, not necessarily a jolly, but there has to be some serious tactics employed if any lasting benefit are to be gained. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iom_cb Posted July 16, 2006 Share Posted July 16, 2006 I'm ambivalent about these kind of things. Personal contact is very important and face to face meetings can often bridge gaps that can never be overcome through any other form of communication. On the other hand, such visits MUST be targeted and have a full progamme of meetings with those who are in a position of influence for our cause. Having said that, meeting the politicos is pretty pointless as they could be gone in the next election, but if you can get at the bureaucrats you stand a better chance of opening an ongoing dialogue and getting the message to people who are likely to be around for some time. So, not necessarily a jolly, but there has to be some serious tactics employed if any lasting benefit are to be gained. nah....it's a jolly. do you really think the USA cares about the IOM? It is so insignificant that is must be pretty low level polititions that are being met....sounds like a holiday to me! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gladys Posted July 16, 2006 Share Posted July 16, 2006 Well, there is a job to be done, bearing in mind that the US has blacklisted the IOM as a jurisdiction. As I said above, meeting with politicians isn't really going to be very fruitful. As you say they will be low level and could well be gone at the next election. Better to line up the bureaucrats. There is a huge difference between the decision takers and the decision makers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
teapot Posted July 17, 2006 Share Posted July 17, 2006 Well, there is a job to be done, bearing in mind that the US has blacklisted the IOM as a jurisdiction. As I said above, meeting with politicians isn't really going to be very fruitful. As you say they will be low level and could well be gone at the next election. Better to line up the bureaucrats. There is a huge difference between the decision takers and the decision makers. Nah ......... it's a jolly. First Class Air Travel, top rate accommodation! It's a jolly. They've made the face to face contact last November, as stated, unless there's things to sign they could have moved things on from here. They said that the Americans were taking us of the blacklist last November, so if they haven't then they can't be trusted and there's no point in going begging again, and if they have taken us off the blacklist then there's not point in going again because we're off. Perhaps they're going to plead to the Americans not to stuff up the new, shiney Egaming business that we're trying to start, that will be so luctrative, because that's what's going through the Senate at the moment, the Americans don't want this wicked off-shore gaming going on, particularly as they won't make any money out of it! So all in all ........I think you can safely say.......... they'll have a lovely time and have their egos massaged and we'll be paying for it. Remember the visit to China..........then we lost Strix..........great move. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iom_cb Posted July 17, 2006 Share Posted July 17, 2006 unless there's things to sign post? I'm not sure about this but surely constitutionally speaking this should all be negotiated through the United Kingdom government. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ripsaw Posted July 17, 2006 Share Posted July 17, 2006 RE: US Blacklisting. BBC News has "links to relevent articles" (Take note Manx Radio and IOM Online!!) This weeks BBC article has two links to the previous US visit, one dated November 2005 and the other http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/is...man/4499564.stm. In the text of the December 2005 article it says of the blacklisting: Government officials had been told some US states were preparing financial regulations which would have blacklisted the island. But they discovered there were no formal plans. A government spokesman said individual senators in some states had planned private bills based on "out of date information", but these were corrected by the delegation. Is this correct or is the Island on a US blacklist? A Google search for ["isle of man" Blacklisted] also fails to throw up conclusive results (other than no longer being on any OECD lists) on the first couple of pages. Anyway, back on thread... I see nothing wrong with our top people going abroad (no rumours about wives and partners?) to further links in new markets and to reaffirm our position in the Global market. Of course they are going to meet 'lesser' mortals in the American political hierarchy, but that doesn't lessen the benefit of going. Maybe one will take an hours break and do some shopping? Now that would be a 'Jolly' headliner grabber. constitutionally speaking this should all be negotiated through the United Kingdom government.The UK Government going abroad and singing the praises of an Offshore Financial Centre? That would be funny. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T Reznor Posted July 17, 2006 Share Posted July 17, 2006 do you really think the USA cares about the IOM? of course they don't, we don't have any oil reserves! maybe we should show Mr Gelling this site so he can chat with the neo-cons: http://www.newamericancentury.org/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LoneWolf Posted July 18, 2006 Share Posted July 18, 2006 do you really think the USA cares about the IOM?It is so insignificant that is must be pretty low level polititions that are being met....sounds like a holiday to me! I seem to recall a previous thread some time past which flagged up the possibility of sanctions against the Island's tax regime. if my memory is correct the previous visit manged to have the Island removed from some Senator's hit list. So maybe the visit is useful? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lonan3 Posted July 18, 2006 Share Posted July 18, 2006 http://bizoffshore.com/blog/_archives/2005...14/1449796.html “The OECD list should be updated as there is no system to get the Isle of Man off it. Individual senators come forward with private member’s bills about things that can take money away from the state and they all use the same definition of a tax haven.” The states of Montana, Maryland, Michigan and Pennsylvania all have current proposed bills that list the Isle of Man as a tax haven. There are also several bills at federal level that do the same. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Albert Tatlock Posted July 18, 2006 Author Share Posted July 18, 2006 OECD Tax Haven Criteria and the Isle of Man committment letter to the OECD Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Static Posted July 18, 2006 Share Posted July 18, 2006 .......So all in all ........I think you can safely say.......... they'll have a lovely time and have their egos massaged and we'll be paying for it. Remember the visit to China..........then we lost Strix..........great move. You'll find that the governments visit to China and the Chinese ambassadors visit here will have had absolutley no bearing on the decisions made by Strix. An assembly worker here costs Strix in excess of £16000/year (probably more with NI & other benefits). An assembly worker in China costs £2000/year. The reason Strix has moved 85% of its assembly work to China is purely based on costs, not politics. It's cheaper ot manufacture in China AND probably 90% of the kettle manufacturers are now based in China. So make locally, sell locally, saves you money on transport costs as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Albert Tatlock Posted July 18, 2006 Author Share Posted July 18, 2006 MR report on the visit. Andrew Froberg, Associate International Tax Counsel, Department of the Treasury (Institute of International Bankers)? Patricia Brown - Treasury attorney? John Harrington - Treasury attorney? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
teapot Posted July 19, 2006 Share Posted July 19, 2006 unless there's things to sign post? I'm not sure about this but surely constitutionally speaking this should all be negotiated through the United Kingdom government. They wouldn't want them to post the stuff to be signed - you've got to have those lovely pictures of sitting at a desk in a posh office with flags behind you and holding an expensive pen, signing leather bound pages! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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