An Ex Pat American writes from France on Inversion (Tim Horton and Burger King)
Victoria has a wonderful blog and writes on my topics . Today she wrote on this topic. I just put an excerpt in . Please click and read the whole today's blog. and read the links she gives.. and the comments, especially about Brazil. I can now understand what inversion is.
http://thefranco-americanflophouse.blogspot.ca/
The cross-border marriage between Burger King (US) and Tim Hortons (Canada) with the happy couple opting for a home in the North has really flipped people's switches in the US. The new buzz word is "inversions" and thank God for the Internet because in a paper world way too many trees would have to die just so that every pundit from Paris to Poughkeepsie can throw out his .02.
The Americans in the homeland are screaming for Something to be Done and Obama has come out swinging saying that he will do what he can to "discourage" American companies from marrying out and setting up shop in somebody else's tax jurisdiction. I mean, we can't have that, right?
Do the American People, their elected representatives and their President understand the utter hypocrisy of their position? I doubt it and I'm feeling frisky this morning (too much coffee?) so allow me to have some fun today at their expense.
Here's the argument three US lawmakers (including the now infamous Senator Reed) are making for strongly discouraging US companies from leaving the US :
Inverted corporations take advantage of all the things American tax dollars provide from tax credits for research and development, investments in transportation infrastructure, and strong patent and copyright protections..."
Now just replace "American" in that sentence with "French", "German", "Japanese" or any other nationality. What about their tax base and talent? Any consideration whatsoever here? Not at all.