Stories of offshore tax havens belonging to Mitt Romney have been causing a stir in the news media. Several sources such as Reuters and the Washington Post have unearthed troublesome material in the candidate’s most recent tax returns. Reuters journalist Sam Youngman reports that Romney may have sheltered offshore bank accounts as a result of his business dealings with Bain Capital. Youngman’s published findings do imply this information, though his actual wording is somewhat vague.
Romney has amassed a large fortune due to investments in several dozen funds with ties to this private equity firm that he helped start over 15 years ago. A number of Bain funds have connections to offshore accounts. This firm also has a record of generating tax breaks for only the most wealthy Americans.
Evidence in tax returns could reveal that Bain and Romney have avoided paying 2012 taxes with these offshore account tactics. A detailed analysis of his securities filings show that the candidate has Bain funds stashed in accounts located in far-flung regions, such as Bermuda, the Cayman Islands, Hong Kong, and Ireland.
Much of this information is true and verifiable, though it does not solidly point to tax evasion or avoidance. This type of corporation is only responsible for tax payment in cases of repatriation. These factors are often considered a grey area in terms of this implied information in the media about Romney’s supposed offshore financial holdings. Some of these early reports also describe conflicting roles of the Cayman Islands as locations for some of these holdings
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