Not Just for Republicans Anymore
Ah, those halcyon days when Bill and Hill left the White House, broke, with some furniture they weren't supposed to keep! Remember those? Yeah, well, being worth between $20 and $60 million had helped the Clintons start to forget that feeling, too. And what better way to invest Republican-levels of wealth than like a Republican ?
It turns out that Bill Clinton, too, has money in a couple of offshore investments in the Caymans, a Caribbean tax haven, through California billionaire Ron Burkle (with whom Bill is reportedly socially acquainted). Those investments are usually used by foreigners to invest in America without paying American taxes, though the Clinton camp (like the Romney and Edwards camps before it) is claiming that he totally pays the right amount of U.S. taxes.
However, the structure of Clinton's involvement is not entirely clear and the Clintons and Burkle's people have refused to be more specific about whether Clinton's involvement with the investments could include an equity stake that would allow him to pay a 15% tax rate on the income rather than the standard income tax rate of 35%. Clinton doesn't plan to divest himself of this holdings (which appear to be designed to pay investors more as they remain involved) until Hillary secures the nomination, at which time his spokesman says that "there will be an appropriate transition for those relationships." I mean, I guess it's good that there's some bipartisanship in the Presidential field, I guess I just sorta wish it wasn't about how best to minimize one's taxes when one is super-wealthy.
Clinton's Burkle Ties Include Funds in Cayman Islands [Bloomberg]