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23 April 2012 | By Joanne Harris

Irish firm Dillon Eustace has become the first onshore firm to open an office in the Cayman Islands.

The firm has hired funds lawyer Matt Mulry from an in-house role at Prosperity Capital Management as a partner to kick-start the office. Mulry formerly worked at offshore firm Ogier.

Irish-qualified commercial litigation specialist John Fox also joins Dillon Eustace in Cayman from local firm Stenning & Associates, with the aim of building a dispute resolution practice.

Dillon Eustace said the opening was in response to client demand for Cayman-domiciled products, despite the anticipated impact of the EUs alternative investment fund managers directive.

Managing partner Mark Thorne said: The continued strengthening of Caymans regulatory regime and its focus on good corporate governance is bringing the jurisdiction more in line with established onshore practices.

The move follows the decision by offshore firms Maples and Calder and Walkers to open Dublin offices in 2006 and 2010 respectively. While offshore firms have established a number of offices, predominantly representative, in traditionally onshore jurisdictions in recent years, Withers has been the only onshore firm to move offshore with a British Virgin Islands launch (30 April 2009).

Dillon Eustaces Cayman office will provide advice in commercial and securities litigation, funds establishment, insurance and banking law as well as compliance and regulation. The firm is also planning the launch of a corporate services business, which, subject to Cayman Islands Monetary Authority approval, will open in the third quarter of the year.

The firm also has offices in Hong Kong, New York and Tokyo as well as its Dublin headquarters.

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Dublin firm Dillon Eustace opens Cayman Islands base

To the editor:

In reading the article about the tax day Freedom rally, comments are required.

First, thank you Bears Ears Tea Party Patriots for caring. I was out of town and unable to attend, so again thank you.

I will try and put this into perspective for people: those who attended are paying attention to the crisis in this country, and those who did not need help with the numbers.

Approximately 55 people, less than half of 1 percent of the population of Moffat County are addressing issues that affect 100 percent of you.

I have raised the subject before that apathy is not an option. One only need look at the disaster created by people unwilling to go the extra mile, and now instead of a large problem, we have a major crisis.

Some more numbers to consider: conservatives and moderates outnumber liberals by approximately 3 to 1, so why are we getting liberalism shoved down our throats?

One reason is apathy, and another is people are too lazy to get off their backsides and do something about it. We have a president and a Democrat-controlled Senate that is doing everything in their power to destroy this great country, a president who has spent his entire first term running for his second term and ignoring the plight of this country.

The message from our leader is we need more government help to get by, therefore we must raise taxes on those nasty rich people.

More numbers: first we could tax these rich people at 100 percent, i.e., take all of their money, and it would not even pay for 1 year of government spending, and the rich would be broke and unable to provide jobs to anyone else.

More:
Letter: Tax Day Freedom Rally

There was a very important day last week a day even more significant than when your taxes were due. In California, Tax Freedom Day arrived Friday.

Calculated annually by the Tax Foundation, Tax Freedom Day is the day on which the average Californian has finished earning enough money to pay all of his or her federal, state and local taxes this year.

So, congratulations! Just a mere 110 days into the year (not counting Feb. 29), you finally started working for yourself instead of the government.

But before you break out the champagne, note the following:

n Tax Freedom Day was four days later than last year. It would have been even later had the governor and Legislature succeeded in their efforts to raise car taxes, income taxes and sales taxes.

n Californians must work longer for the government than residents of other states. The average American achieves tax freedom three days earlier than the average Californian. That's one reason many workers leave our state as soon as they retire.

n If taxes were raised high enough to pay for all government spending, California's Tax Freedom Day wouldn't come until May 17.

Tax Freedom Day used to arrive much earlier in the year. According to the Tax Foundation, in the year 1900 Americans paid only 5.9 percent of their income in taxes and Tax Freedom Day was Jan. 22.

Over the years, the sheer number of taxes and their overall cost has grown tremendously. In fact, it's jarring to compare our current taxes to what Californians paid a century ago.

In the early 20th century, Californians paid no sales tax the sales tax was first imposed in 1933 at a rate of 2.5 percent. Today, Californians pay sales tax rates as high as 9.75 percent.

Read the rest here:
Runner: Little to celebrate on Tax Freedom Day

22-04-2012 09:14 The latest tip in our Expat Guidebook Tip of the Day series is simply this throw away your watch. You won't need it while you are living in other countries as an expat/digital nomad. This is especially true in Eastern Europe and Latin America, because while people work hard they don't always adhere to the 8-hour-a-day grind of the American existence. Mexico in particularly is known as the land of tomorrow because people sort of shrug their shoulders and go on about their business rather than stress about what time it is...and one of the biggest challenges for first-time digital nomads/expats is adjusting to the difference. The relaxed, slow-paced lifestyle is one of my favorite parts about traveling and living in other countries.

Go here to see the original:
The Expat Guidebook Tip of the Day - Throw Away Your Watch - Video

SIDON, Lebanon: Tens of French expatriates arrived Sunday at a polling station in the southern coastal city of Sidon to cast their vote in the first round of Frances presidential elections.

The entrance to Frances Cultural Center in Sidon, converted to hold to casting of ballots, was heavily guarded by the Internal Security Forces and the premises were off limits to non-French nationals.

Voters were thoroughly searched upon entering the facility amid tight security outside the center and surrounding area.

Over 44 million French are registered to vote in this years presidential election.

Ali Shams, 89, said that he has been participating in the voting process since 1955 but declined to give details about his preference saying: I have the right not to say who I voted for.

Others laughed when asked whether the French voting process resembled the Lebanese one.

There are 10 candidates running for Frances top post but incumbent President Nicolas Sarkozy and his Socialist challenger Francois Hollande are expected to go against each other in the next round of voting in a two-week scramble for the line.

An average of the last eight polls released ahead of the end of first round campaign at midnight on Friday showed Hollande winning the first round with an average of 28 percent support, against 26.4 percent for Sarkozy, Agence France Presse reported.

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French expats cast ballots in south Lebanon