07.01.14
Yep, Corporate America still working out improved ways to hate you
Three years later, no change. Listen to the updated busking version, below.
[Walgreen’s is ]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 …
In Walgreen’s case, an inversion would be an affront to United States taxpayers. The company, which also owns the Duane Reade chain in New York, reaps almost a quarter of its $72 billion in revenue directly from the government; it received $16.7 billion from Medicare and Medicaid last year.
“It is unconscionable that Walgreen is considering this tax dodge — especially in light of the billions of dollars it receives from U.S. taxpayers every year,??? Nell Geiser, associate director of Change to Win Retail Initiatives, a union-financed consumer advocacy group, said in a statement.
Frank Clemente, executive director of Americans for Tax Fairness, called it “unfair and deeply unpatriotic if the company moves offshore while continuing to make its money here, leaving the rest of us to pick up the tab for its tax avoidance.???
The Times story goes on to explain the tax avoidance move for Walgreen is being pushed by the 1 percent, “large investors.”
Despite all the bribes and favors extended by the state government of Illinois, Senator Richard Durbin of the company’s home state, and taxpayers the company responded with meaningless boilerplate: “Our management team and board are making significant progress evaluating the proposed transaction determining the timing and structure, the combined management team, additional synergy and cost reduction initiatives and potential changes to our future capital structure.”
“Given all of the benefits Walgreen has received over the years as a United States corporate citizen, it remains curious why [Mr. Wasson, Walgeen CEO], would seek a new passport,” writes the Times’ Andrew Ross Sorkin.