Leading free market advocates Andrew Quinlan and Daniel Mitchell will be on the Island next month to speak at the Bermuda International Business Association annual general meeting.

The meeting is to be held at the Fairmont Hamilton Princess Hotel on Thursday, December 12, from 12.30p.m.

Both speakers have been staunch opponents of legislative proposals put forward by members of the US Congress this year that would crack down on American corporations that move their headquarters overseas for tax reasons - a business transaction often referred to as a corporate inversions.

Bermuda has been caught up in heated debate over the inversions since the beginning of the year as a wave of US companies - including Stanley Works, Ingersoll-Rand, Cooper Industries - sought to relocate to the Island.

Pressure from the media, trade unions and politicians pushed Stanley Works to back off on their reincorporation plans.

Both Mr. Quinlan and Dr. Mitchell have claimed that the US tax code is outdated and puts American companies at a competitive disadvantage against corporations based in lower tax jurisdictions.

Instead of penalising companies that seek a better tax system, the two have called for extensive reform to the US tax system.

BIBA's Richard Calderon said the political economists were invited to the AGM, not because of their political stance, but in order to give some "clarity and update on the issues" including corporate inversions and OECD initiatives.

Mr. Quinlan is CEO and president of the Center for Freedom and Prosperity. He was formerly a senior staff member of the Joint Economic Committee and executive director of CapitolWatch, which is "one of the oldest and largest citizen lobbies in the US," according to Mr. Quinlan.

Dr. Mitchell is a McKenna senior fellow in political economy at Washington-based The Heritage Foundation, and an expert on tax reform, supply-side economies, international tax competition and Social Security privatisation.

Mr. Quinlan told The Royal Gazette that he and Dr. Mitchell hoped to also meet with private sector officials and Bermuda Government officials while they were on the Island.

Mr. Quinlan and Dr. Mitchell will be staying at the Fairmont Hamilton from Wednesday, December 11 and said they would welcome being contacted by those from the private or public sector.