Burger King Flips Obama the Bird; BK, Warren Buffet, Greg Mankiw, Barry Ritholtz, Mish on Corporate Tax Inversion "Fairness"
Courtesy of Mish.
Obama Condemns CEOs
President Obama is fed up with corporations no paying their "fair tax".
On August 24, Bloomberg reported Inversion Express Slows to Crawl as Obama Condemns CEOs
On July 24 Obama referred to companies looking to shift their domicile as “corporate deserters” and aides pledged to curtail the practice with or without Congressional approval.
Since then, no companies have announced any of these deals — known as inversions — and it’s no coincidence, according to lawyers and investment bankers. The presidential rhetoric has caused several companies exploring inversions to put on the brakes to see what emerges from the political debate, people familiar with the preparations said.
Between mid-June and late-July, when Obama ramped up his criticism of the deals by calling companies that strike them “corporate deserters,” at least five large American companies announced plans for inversions, including AbbVie Inc. and Medtronic Inc. (MDT) Since the start of 2012, 21 U.S. companies have announced or completed such deals, or almost half the total of 51 such transactions in the last three decades.
After Obama called for “economic patriotism” from business leaders in July, Treasury Secretary Jack Lew said the agency was examining options for new rules that wouldn’t require Congressional sign-off.
Burger King Tax Bonanza
The Bloomberg headline "Inversion Express Slows to Crawl" was good for precisely 1 day.
Today we see this Bloomberg headline: Burger King in Talks to Buy Tim Hortons in Tax-Saving Move
Burger King Worldwide Inc., the second-largest U.S. burger chain, is in talks to buy Tim Hortons Inc. and move its headquarters to Canada, becoming the latest American company seeking to relocate to a lower-tax country.
Burger King would create the world’s third-largest fast- food chain by merging with Canada’s biggest seller of coffee and doughnuts, the companies said in a statement. The Canadian corporate tax rate is typically 26.5 percent, compared with 40 percent in the U.S., according to auditing and tax firm KPMG.
The deal renews debate over American companies shifting their headquarters internationally in search of lower corporate tax bills. The trend drew criticism last month from President Barack Obama, and his aides vowed that the administration would take action to curtail the practice.
“There’s some modest political risk to the deal, but it’s difficult to say because we haven’t seen the administration move to block one of these yet,” said Will Slabaugh, an analyst at Stephens Inc. in Little Rock, Arkansas.
Burger King Dares Obama To Stop It From Fleeing To Canada
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