Building talking points for Bermuda as the premier offshore financial centre. This column has been in existence for more than 13 years; almost never are there comments or feedback made. That is because finance and economics are of great interest for finance people as these are always evolving, never static, and sometimes completely unpredictable topics. For many people, however, in spite of the importance, finance discussions are still perceived as incredibly boring. Or, the deliverer of the financial topics is boring, although I’d like to think not.We know too true that most of us would rather talk about finance and money in terms of spending those dollars, rather than saving or investing. It is human nature. Spending = gratification = acquiring something or doing something that makes us feel good about ourselves. Saving and budgeting makes one feel deprived, often one ends up questioning the worth of the deprivation.So, the commentary on the economic article last week, ‘Bermuda is not a tax haven’ was just overwhelming with the sheer numbers and variety of opinions. It must have, as is often said, “Touched a nerve”. Many agreed with me, some did not, some were sceptical and negative, but everyone had constructive suggestions. I thank you all for expressing your thoughts. Never has this massive response happened before to me such great democracy in action. The article of June 08, 2013 was number two for most read all week, and generated more than 40 comments in all, through the website and sent to me, personally.I am grateful for your responses and your perspectives. Readers (and those who commented you know who you are) do care intensely about this country, and the direction we are headed.So, my question to you is, what can we do, what must we do to counteract this constant barrage of bad press about our country that is unearned and unwarranted?I think we all realise that recognition has certainly arrived right here right now that we (in Bermuda) cannot afford to be as complacent as in the past when business poured in no matter how poor, or indifferent our attitude. We cannot wallow in self-pity and negativity. We must now turn the tide to our favour. We must vigilantly, consistently and proactively protect our reputation as the premier offshore financial centre of integrity and transparency.Our country's reputation (Bermuda) is everything to us. It is our lifeline to survival and continued financial success.We need to understand how our country's regulations, tax and compliance standards work, backwards and forwards. It is not enough now to have a political spokesperson, or the Minister of Finance, or the Premier shoulder all the responsibility for explaining again and again that Bermuda has not only complied with international standards of transparency, but has laws and regulations in place to enforce these standards.Bermuda is also often accused of being a tax haven, a place that is tax neutral, or that does not have any income taxes, or taxes in general. Let us not get sidetracked about these casual poorly-researched comments, we know how wrong these comments are. Our Bermuda government assesses taxes, boy, do they ever! Ask any individual in the process of purchasing a home just how expensive that property transfer tax will be. Talk to any divorced individual when the realisation dawns that same transfer tax is levied again, if the couple split up their assets. Interview any local retail merchant to find out just how much of their cash is tied up with prepaid customs taxes, monies that may never be recouped if the item does not sell. That is a freebie for the government.Thinking of travelling or making purchases abroad. Check the fee to the Bermuda government to buy foreign currency. In today's low interest rate environment, that foreign exchange fee is more than the interest earned on your money, and let us not forget to include the commission to the bank and the admin fee to process this transaction. Every time a commuter fills a gas tank, or turns on the air conditioning, hot water, refrigerator, or stove, there is an surcharge oil tax going directly to the country coffers. Note the amount of payroll tax taken off the top of your paycheque. Our government gets its tax money first, most of the time, not after filing a tax return. These subtle taxes resemble VAT taxes in disguise. Our tax structure may not resemble another country's tax regime, but the residents of this Island are certainly heavily taxed.It is time that we set up a publicly shared rebuttal resource to these negative and incorrect comments. I propose that we establish a national database that compares our compliance, Know Your Client reporting standards, and various components of tax structures with other countries the comparisons to start, at the very least, with the countries that are whining the most and are the closest to us.We will review and compare the following:l Anti-money Laundering and Know Your Client and related international standardsl Tax compliancel Corporate structure, i.e. controlled foreign corporation legislation, capitalisation requirementsl Tax treatment of dividends, capital gains, foreign versus domestic income, active versus passive income and related itemsThese may be rather alien topics to many; however, I believe that we can bring them to the understanding of every person who wants to accurately and positively support a positive message for Bermuda.If, and it is an if, we can make this exercise meaningful, we may prevail to our eminent editor to post a page on Bermuda's attributes and talking points. We shall see.In two days, June 17, 2013, the G8 countries and their representatives will be meeting at the G8 Heads of State Summit in Northern Island. Their agenda, espoused by Prime Minister David Cameron of the United Kingdom is to achieve change on three issues: advancing trade, ensuring tax compliance, promoting greater transparency. It sounds like a small agenda, but the implications may be very large in terms of dictating cross-border sharing of information on income and dividends and related items. If interested, follow the progress and you should be, since the outcome may affect Bermuda here and now. https://www.gov.uk/government/topical-events/g8-2013The G8 countries are: France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, and Russia. According to Wikipedia, “these are the world's eight wealthiest countries”. Collectively, the G8 nations comprise 50.1% of 2012 global nominal Gross Domestic Product and 40.9% of GDP(PPP) meaning GDP at purchasing power parity per capita. PPP is a measure used to comparing differences in living standards (without the distortion of exchange rates) between nations.The question arises. Why are these wealthy countries picking on any small highly regarded international financial centre jurisdiction?Martha Harris Myron CPA PFS CFP(USA) JP is a Bermudian journalist and cross border financial planning specialist focused on offshore financial perspectives, particularly the challenges for international citizens living, working and straddling the North Atlantic pond: United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Europe, and the Island of Bermuda, the premier international finance centre. martha.myron@gmail.comThe opinions expressed in this article are those of the author alone, and not The Royal Gazette. This article is intended for general educational purposes only and cannot be used for specific individual tax, investment, or retirement advice, nor can this article be relied upon for any personal financial planning purposes.