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McDonald’s accused of avoiding €1bn in taxes (by European trade unions)
EU Observer ^ | 26 Feb 2015, 09:24 | Benjamin Fox

Posted on 03/01/2015 12:46:57 PM PST by Olog-hai

Fast-food giant McDonald’s has avoided paying €1 billion in tax across the EU, and should be included in the EU’s probe on “sweetheart” tax deals, according to a report published Wednesday (25 February).

The report, published by the European Federation of Public Service Unions, its US Counterpart and the charity War on Want, accuses McDonald’s of “aggressive and potentially abusive optimization of its structure which has led to the avoidance of significant amounts of tax across the continent”. It concludes that “it is likely that the company reached a secret tax deal with Luxembourg”.

In July 2009, the Happy-Meal maker restructured its business by moving its headquarters from London to the Swiss city Geneva. It also created McD Europe Franchising Sàrl, a Luxembourg-resident intellectual property holding company with a Swiss branch, after the Grand Duchy introduced a tax policy change allowing companies to benefit from significant reductions to their tax rate on income earned from intellectual property. Luxembourg’s “intellectual property box” rule reduces the normal corporate tax rate on most royalties from 29.2 percent to 5.8 percent of taxable income. …

(Excerpt) Read more at euobserver.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Foreign Affairs; Government
KEYWORDS: eurobanking; europeanunion; eussr; gimmedosenuggets; mcdonalds; taxes

1 posted on 03/01/2015 12:46:57 PM PST by Olog-hai
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To: Olog-hai

finding the lowest tax rate is not illegal


2 posted on 03/01/2015 12:48:06 PM PST by GeronL
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To: GeronL

To a Liberal’s Communist mind it is.


3 posted on 03/01/2015 12:52:31 PM PST by SandRat (Duty - Honor - Country! What else need s said?)
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To: Olog-hai

So “avoiding” taxes is now illegal?


4 posted on 03/01/2015 12:52:58 PM PST by aquila48
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To: GeronL

Not here, no. But the EUSSR likes to equate tax avoidance with tax evasion, because their central government is greedy for revenue to keep their own sweetheart no-work government jobs going.


5 posted on 03/01/2015 12:53:01 PM PST by Olog-hai
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To: aquila48

The EU equates it with tax evasion. They think they own the whole continent, after all. They hate what they call “tax havens”. When Jose Manuel Barroso called the EU an “empire”, he was in earnest, although duplicitous in his overall description.


6 posted on 03/01/2015 12:55:41 PM PST by Olog-hai
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To: Olog-hai

They legally structured themselves to reduce their tax burden. They didn’t write the tax laws. They complied with the tax laws. The restructuring was within the law.

It’s ridiculous. Why follow the law? Seriously.


7 posted on 03/01/2015 1:54:59 PM PST by Secret Agent Man (Gone Galt; Not averse to Going Bronson.)
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To: Olog-hai

Not just the EU. Our own govt feels that way too.


8 posted on 03/01/2015 1:55:31 PM PST by Secret Agent Man (Gone Galt; Not averse to Going Bronson.)
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To: Olog-hai
YEAH, why on Earth would you seek out tax advantages for your company when you could just pour your profits down the socialist rat hole that leads to nowhere??

That's exactly what the liberals scream about here...loop holes, which, of course, are perfectly legal and were set up for a particular reason...opposing minimum wage laws which deprive the least of our citizens to get entry level jobs...right to work laws which allow people to hire others and negotiate pay schedules according to the needs of both the employee and employer.......PATHETIC

9 posted on 03/01/2015 2:28:38 PM PST by terycarl (common sense prevails overall!)
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To: Olog-hai

We need a War on Gibmedats “Wog”.


10 posted on 03/01/2015 2:41:02 PM PST by Red_Devil 232 ((VietVet - USMC All Ready On The Right? All Ready On The Left? All Ready On The Firing Line!))
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