Posted on 07/01/2014 3:19:54 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
A little less than two years ago, Gregory D. Wasson, the chief executive of Walgreen, sought a series of tax breaks from Illinois, where his company is based.
“We are proud of our Illinois heritage,” he said at the time. “Just as our stores and pharmacies are health and daily living anchors for the communities we serve, we as a company are now recommitted to serving as an economic anchor for northeastern Illinois.”
The state gave Walgreen $46 million in corporate income tax credits over 10 years in exchange for a pledge to create 500 jobs and invest in upgrading its offices. The state also provided $625,000 in training money and $875,000 in other tax incentives.
Mr. Wasson’s actions, however, could soon run counter to his words. The same chief executive who said he was so “proud of our Illinois heritage” is now considering moving the company’s headquarters to Switzerland as part of a merger with Alliance Boots, a European drugstore chain.
Why? To lower Walgreen’s tax bill even further.
Alarmingly, dozens of large United States companies are contemplating the increasingly popular tax-skirting tactic known as an inversion. Under the strategy, companies merge with foreign rivals in countries with lower tax rates and then reincorporate there while still enjoying the benefits of doing a large part of their business in the United States....
(Excerpt) Read more at finance.yahoo.com ...
What?!??! You mean corporations aren't slaves to the US Welfare State???? You mean we can't force them to be an ATM for all kinds of handouts until we bleed them dry??? You mean a CEO would not willingly let his company die a slow death by a thousand taxes to support America's decline into Socialistic Hell???
Shocking! [eyeroll]
You don’t want people to notice and act accordingly, don’t tax them to death. Asshats.
You have to remember it’s the New York Times.
Math ain’t hard.
As a CEO answering to his shareholders, he is obligated to pay as low a tax rate as he can legally. You want to attract businesses make it cheaper for then to operate in your state, country. Understand though that they will only stay if the benefits continue.
Exactly. Companies don’t relocate to save a percent or two on taxes, because the upheaval is something they would rather avoid. It takes a really onerous tax burden to start causing companies to flee on a large scale.
Now, private businesses are a lot smarter about this than the government. They know consumers will switch to competing brands if they raise the prices too steeply, so they are careful to make every price increase small enough that consumers do not notice. Governments are used to acting as if they have no competition, so they have never learned this lesson.
It is if you're a liberal. Damn near impossible in fact. If you're a liberal, the rich have an infinite number of dollars, but are too stupid to notice if you loot them. Also, you can raise people's standard of living by arbitrarily changing the digits on their paycheck. These are the kind of people who try to cool off their kitchen by leaving the fridge door open.
In Massachusetts the income tax rate was dropped a half a percent 10 years ago but you can check a box to pay the higher rate. Less than a thousand do every year.
It doesn't bother me. More power to them. Less taxes for the regime to redistribute to welfare queens. Starve the beast.
At the risk of being slightly off topic, the McCormick spice company is considering moving its corporate headquarters (about 800 employees) out of tax crazy Maryland. Adding to the ecomomic impact is the fact that Maryland culture is associated with the McCormick product Old Bay seasoning which is used to flavor crabs.
McCormick is looking at neighboring states that are more financially attractive. The governor of Maryland, Martin O’Malley, has made the state a tax hell.
So much for liberals wanting to pay their “fair share”.
Yeah, more like an affront to the greedy governments in the US, whether federal or state, who find it insulting they should have to compete like their superiors do every day.
Just think how much more tyrannical the gov’t would be if these corporations couldn’t vote with their feet.
Maybe the ‘bring jobs back now’ broken record will understand the problem after reading this. Probably not.
The .govs still haven’t figured out that the more you tax something, less of that something will occur.
Doesn’t the USA have the highest corporate taxes in the world? May have somethign to do with that?
Leftists have succeeded in creating the hate business state.
Liberalism is economically unsustainable.
bump
ummm...have you engaged a youth lately?
Holy cow.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.