Bill Clinton on Tax Inversions: ‘This Is Their Money’

As many Democrats attack companies that take advantage of corporate tax inversions, former President Bill Clinton expressed sympathy for them.

“Like it or not, this inversion, this is their money,” Mr. Clinton said in an interview during the Clinton Global Initiative in New York.

When asked whether inversions — the practice of American companies acquiring a small overseas rival and reincorporating abroad to lower their tax bills — are unpatriotic, as many critics say, Mr. Clinton said that publicly traded companies, in particular, “feel duty bound to pay the lowest taxes they can pay.”

“I should make full disclosure here,” Mr. Clinton told CNBC’s Becky Quick. “I signed and supported the bill that raised the corporate taxes in America to the level they are now.”

But, he said it was a different environment when he was in office. “We were deciding we had to reduce the deficit to get interest rates down and spark an investment boom in America, and it worked,” Mr. Clinton said.

The former president added that it’s Treasury Secretary Jacob L. Lew’s job to get as much revenue as possible from corporations, but that the tax rate should not be higher than the average rate of countries in the the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, or O.E.C.D.

CLINTON, INC book review

Daniel Halper provides a meticulously researched account of the calculations, secret deals, and backstabbing that led to the Clintons’ return to political prominence, and to Hillary’s position as 2016 frontrunner.

The Bill and Hillary Clinton who left the White House in January 2001 almost seem like two different people from the ones the country now reveres. Back then they were a disgraced couple, weighed down by a decade of scandal, controversial pardons of financial supporters, and the pedestrian pilfering of furniture from the White House.

A dozen years later, as they prepare for a second White House run, the Clintons are in a completely different orbit. Not only have they gone from virtually penniless to multi-millionaires, they are arguably the two most popular politicians in America-respected and feared by Republicans and Democrats alike. Even their daughter Chelsea, raised in the White House as her father was impeached, is considering a go at politics. The Clintons will be around for some time to come.

Investigative reporter Daniel Halper of the conservative Weekly Standard uses a wealth of research and detailed interviews with friends, allies, and enemies of the Clintons to reveal the strategy they used and the deals they made to turn around their political fortunes-deals with their political allies, their political enemies, and even each other.

SOURCE http://clintonincbook.com/

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Clintons raised $2-3 billion in two decades
The Hill ^ | July 2, 2014 | Alexandra Jaffe / FR Posted by Cincinatus' Wife

Bill and Hillary Clinton raised $2-3 billion in the two decades they’ve been prominent on the national stage, according to the WSJ.

The Journal tallied the Clintons’ speaking fees, fundraising for their foundation and the sums raised for Bill Clinton’s two presidential campaigns for the DNC while he was in office and for Hillary Clinton’s Senate and presidential campaigns.

Between $1.3-2 billion came from U.S. companies and industry sources, making up at least 75 percent of the sum — more than the 60 percent industry sources contributed to the two Bushes’ political operations.

The Journal reports that if Hillary Clinton runs for president in 2016, as expected, she could return such donors to the Democratic Party, a source of concern for Republican fundraisers as they gear up for what’s expected to be the most expensive presidential election in history.

Overall, the Clintons’ political operations raised $1.2 billion, their nonprofit "foundation" drew between $750 million and $1.7 billion and they made about $100 million in speaking fees. --SNIP--

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CLINTON GLOBAL INITIATIVE
276 web pages of obscure programs
all of them vehicles to raise money
all of them salivating for payback w/ Hillary in the WH.

1271 Avenue of the Americas 42nd Floor
New York, NY 10020
212-348-8882

WEB SITE http://www.clintonfoundation.org/clinton-global-initiative

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