[tomder55]

....at least according to the emperor's criteria . When he isn't wearing out the battery in his golf cart ;the emperor has been laying the groundwork for the Dems class warfare fall campaign.

Among his many bleats is this line that corporate tax inversion is "unpatriotic" ...total gibberish of course .


So it must come as a shock to him that Burger King ;which has been getting it's butt kicked in the US market ;and has seen it's growth in the international market would make move to consolidate it's market position by merging with highly successful Canadian corporation Tim Horton's .
But the real thing that gets the emperor's goat ,and has the lefties howling at the moon, is the announcement that BK will move their corporate HQ to Canada ;where corporate tax polices are much friendlier than the US market . Here in the U.S., corporations are taxed at up to 40% of their income. In Canada, the comparable top rate is about 26%.

But wait ..there's more ! That buy US cheerleader ;the self professed UNDERTAXED corporate crony to the emperor ,Warren Buffet is going to finance the merger !!! For a 9% interest in the merger ,Buffett is going to pony up $3 Billion .

The clueless political elites who over-tax ,over-regulate driving American companies overseas are the unpatriotic group in this deal .Buffet is just an opportunistic hypocrite.

[NeedKarma]

Canada - it's a good place to be. :-)
I assume by "emperor" you mean your president? Why would BK's move get his goat? Companies come and go all the time, he need not worry about this one.
If you think the corporate tax rate is too high then vote in someone will drastically reduce them. Who is planning to do that... and do they have a history of doing it?

[tomder55]

They are afraid to open a Tim Horton's here in NY because they kick Dunkin Donuts and Starbuck's butt. There are a few Repubics who will run on the lower corporate tax rates plank . But many are afraid to because of the drubbing that Mittens took. I think the emperor should punish Buffett by allowing the Keystone pipeline to cut into Buffet's moving oil by rail business.

[NeedKarma]

So there you have it. Likely your current budget demands couldn't subsist on the reduced revenue. Not sure how you get out out this one. Appealing to patriotism certainly won't do it.

[joypulv]

I see nothing contradictory about Buffet's actions.
It's silly to chide corporate America for being unpatriotic (I'm an Obama supporter in general).
You can't survive in America by being a good tax doobie. You have to have TAX LAWS.
Maybe Buffet is helping force the issue for all we know.
He is a good doobie.

[smoothy]

Warren Buffet is a hypocritical liar by rabidy opposing the Keystone Pipeline pretending to be supporting the greenies... when in reality, he is making HUGE ammounts of money transporting Canadian Tar Sands crude via railway that he is HEAVILY invested in.

[NeedKarma]

So he is a business man protecting his interests. Who doesn't do that?
Being wealthy is the american goal - by whatever means necessary.

[tomder55]

"He is a good doobie. " Indeed ,he serves his share holders well. But he is a hypocrite none-the -less. If he was trying to force the issue of tax reform in an effort to make American businesses more competitive then he'd be doing a real service. Instead he pontificates about how he is under-taxed (They call it the "Buffett Rule " ), while he does everything in his power to protect his wealth from taxation. In other words ,he's a tax evader at the same time he claims to desire to be taxed more.
What's more ...he routinely calls for investors to put their money in America, “the mother lode of opportunity.” So what is he doing here ? ..engineering a move out of America.

Now as to his patriotism ... I was just using the emperor's criteria . I think what he is doing is in the best interest of his company ;and in Burger King's best interests ....and yes despite himself ,he is shining a light on the problems with the tax code. Except he has it backwards . It's not that corporations aren't taxed enough here . It's that they are taxed too much. If he feels that he is personally under-taxed then there are plenty of remedies like not hiding his income (he does control his salary ) ...or even better; donate the difference to the Treasury .

Gifts to the United States
U.S. Department of the Treasury
Credit Accounting Branch
3700 East-West Highway, Room 622D
Hyattsville, MD 20782

[tomder55]

just got this email from MoveOn . Funny thing is that they aren't calling out Buffett in their petitions and boycotts.

MoveOn Petitions - Burger King: Don?t Try This Whopper of a Tax Dodge

in fact ;MoveOn sent this petition in support of Buffett's pompous declarations about the tax code .
http://civic.moveon.org/standwithwarren/

[paraclete]

Tom your piece is born out of ignorance of tax laws. BK will still pay the US tax rate on it's US operations which is all you are really entitled to anyway, and it they want to protect their business they are entitled to do it, have a right to do it in fact. What you are really lamenting is that the US has become uncompetitive because someoneelse dares to levy a lower rate of tax. This is good business Tom, adds to stockholder value, and you can be sure that if Burfett thinks BK is a good investment, he's done the math, which is more than you have done

[tomder55]

Tom your piece is born out of ignorance of tax laws. BK will still pay the US tax rate on it's US operations which is all you are really entitled to anyway,

it is the emperor who speaks out of ignorance . The truth is that if BK or any
American company wants to bring the profits to the US to invest here ;they are clobbered with US tax rates . That's just the fact .
The lefties here call it tax inversion when a company moves corp hq overseas . The emperor and his crew call it a lack of economic patriotism . The emperor went on to say "You know some people are calling these companies ‘corporate deserters.’”


You say they have a right and I wholeheartedly agree. The real remedy is for the US to join the rest of the civilized world and reduce corporate tax rates.

This idiot in the Senate ,Senator Sherrod Brown ,is actually calling for a BK boycott. But I say BK owes the US nothing .It's franchises have been closing domestically .

The main point of this post was to call out the hypocrite Warren Buffett, who in May criticized the practice . I wonder if the emperor will call his phony crony a corporate deserter . I kinda doubt it.

[joypulv]

BK isn't moving to Canada.
Buffet can be in favor of all those reforms while continuing to act in his shareholders' interest, and in his own (and the billions he gives away). I can't think of a good analogy at the moment except maybe 'Buy American.' Buying American does NOTHING but add a drop to the ocean.
The public loves to single out corporations for some boycott or another, clueless. Reform has to be across the board.

[tomder55]

the HQ of the new parent company will be in Canada
Burger King swallows Tim Hortons; new firm is Canada-bound - LA Times

I'm all for comprehensive tax reform . But it rarely works that way . I do know that if I designed the tax code ,it wouldn't be in volumes . What I am addressing is this very obvious immediate need that the US corporate taxes are the highest in the world . (waiting for the "effective tax rate canard to be brought up any minute now ) .
Buffet says that he would eliminate the provisions that create tax inversion while at the same time is financing one of the biggest moves in US history . Defending the contradiction is attempting to square a circle .

[talaniman]

Rich guys don't pay the full tax rate Tom, between corporate welfare and high priced lawyers they pay little. If they go to another country, the lawyers go with them and they pay even less.

Poor rich guys.

Buffet says that he would eliminate the provisions that create tax inversion while at the same time is financing one of the biggest moves in US history . Defending the contradiction is attempting to square a circle .

I would too, if I knew congress would do nothing.

[joypulv]

BK announcement yesterday on Facebook


'As part of the announcement made today, both Burger King Corp. and Tim Hortons will continue to operate as independent brands. We’ll just be under common ownership. Our headquarters will remain in Miami where we were founded more than 60 years ago and business will continue as usual at our restaurants around the world.

The decision to create a new global QSR leader with Tim Hortons is not tax-driven – it’s about global growth for both brands. BKC will continue to pay all of our federal, state and local U.S. taxes.'

[tomder55]

(waiting for the "effective tax rate canard to be brought up any minute now ) .

Rich guys don't pay the full tax rate Tom, between corporate welfare and high priced lawyers they pay little.

that didn't take long. If you lowered the rates and eliminated the loopholes it would benefit all. But the Dem champions of corporate statism would never consider that option.

[talaniman]

That's because repubs want to lower the rates and NOT close the loopholes.

[tomder55]

you know better than that . I'm a flat tax type of guy.

[paraclete]

No Tom that's a flat earth type of guy, but let us talk about effective tax rates shall we, which is reality where as the pro tem rate is aspirational. Corporations are not freightened off by the pro tem rate but by the tax regime and the business climate. It costs a lot to do business and a complex tax system is the problem. If the BK business comes from overseas it makes sense to seek a lower taxing regime

[smoothy]

Loopholes exist because Democrats created them for themselves and their fellow democrats. Why else would effectively half the population pay no federal taxes while the other half have to for themselves and the others that don't pay anything.