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U.S. Cannot Encourage Job Creation with Second-Highest Corporate Tax Rate Among Industrialized Nations, Scott Hodge Says...

The repatriation of the Timbit was held up by Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Tim Hortons executives Wednesday as a shining example of low corporate tax rates luring business to Canada. The homegrown coffee giant has not technically been a Canadian company for years, but Tim Hortons Inc. is reorganizing as a Canadian public company after 99 per cent of shareholders voted Tuesday in favour of bringing the iconic coffee company back home from the U.S. The chain so ubiquitous north of the border had been registered in Delaware for nearly 15 years as a result of its purchase by...

Wichita Suffers From Bizjet Downturn AVIATION WEEK Joseph C. Anselmo janselmo@aviationweek.com William Garvey william_garvey@aviationweek.com Wichita, Kan. A severe downturn in the aviation industry has led to the loss of 30,000 jobs in Wichita as the impact from mass layoffs at companies such as Cessna, Hawker Beechcraft and Bombardier Learjet has rippled through small suppliers and the economy, according to Mayor Carl Brewer. Unemployment in this aviation-dependent city of 364,000 has hit 9.7% as business jet and general aviation manufacturers have throttled back on production after mass cancellations of existing orders and a dramatic reduction in new orders. "That type of...

Tax receipts decline as U.S. deficit to set recordPublished: Tuesday, August 4, 2009 Associated Press WASHINGTON — The recession is starving the government of tax revenue, just as the president and Congress are piling a major expansion of health care and other programs on the nation’s plate and struggling to find money to pay the tab. The numbers could hardly be more stark: Tax receipts are on pace to drop 18 percent this year, the biggest single-year decline since the Great Depression, while the federal deficit balloons to a record $1.8 trillion. Other figures in an Associated Press analysis underscore...

A look at some of the most luxurious executive perks Economic downturn might make some of these doozies obsolete Sunday, May 24, 2009 3:42 AM By Alistair Barr Running big public companies is hard work, so many executives get a little help to keep their noses to the grindstone. Use of company jets, cars and drivers, free home security, free financial-planning advice and country-club memberships are some of the common rewards. Some of these perks keep coming after retirement. Even in death, the money keeps flowing in the form of so-called golden coffins. In the midst of the worst global...

The recent recession is somewhat unique in that the credit markets have been dragged through the mud with the equity markets. Bondholders, generally considered to be in a safer position than stockholders, aren’t feeling so at ease. Over the past year bonds across the risk spectrum have declined in price amidst speculation that default rates could skyrocket in 2009 and 2010 to levels unseen since the Depression. As a result, investors with a few years on their time horizon may have a real opportunity right now if they pick and choose their investments carefully. Bond prices are down overall and...

RIDICULED by politicians, attacked by the media and reeling from the economic slowdown, US corporate jet owners are doing it tough. Attacks have been particularly savage since three Detroit executives used private jets to go to Washington last year to beg for a taxpayer-backed $US25billion ($39billion) bailout. The car makers' clanger sparked a wave of outrage and many companies reacted by cancelling orders or dumping corporate jets on a market that was already oversupplied because of the economic downturn. The result, say US aircraft brokers, is that resale values have slumped by 30 to 40 per cent. "A year ago,...

President Obama's recent town hall meeting brought visions of a classic movie. It felt like with great anticipation many followed the Green Brick road to Obama's Emerald City town hall give-a-way singing, “We're off to see Obama, the Wonderful Wizard of US....because, because, because, because, because...because of the wonderful things he does!” The straw woman asked for “a kitchen and a car. The cowardly kitty student asked for “more benefits”. This disturbing entitlement mindset is a far cry from JFK's, “Ask NOT what your country can do for you, but what you can do for you country”. From corporate tin...

Is it my imagination or does a disturbing number of Americans believe they're entitled to reap the benefits of hard work by others? An entitlement mindset is the foundation of the modern democrat party. However, offenders in both parties exploit the sin of “Class Envy”. Skillfully, manipulative politicians make you hate anyone who has more than you. They allege, “You don't have because those SOB's are stealing it all”. So while rich CEOs flying their private jets has nothing to do with the price of gas or effecting your life in anyway, you're thrilled when politicians vow to 'get them'....

The two largest offshore drilling companies, one of the largest oilfield service companies, and other major firms have announced plans to relocate their corporate offices to Switzerland: “Noble Corp. today became the latest in a recent string of Houston oil and gas firms to announce plans to move their corporate headquarters to Switzerland, a change experts said is cheifly for tax purposes. The world’s second largest offshore drilling contractor, now incorporated in the Cayman Islands and run from Sugar Land [Texas], said its board has approved the change, and now will put the proposal to shareholders and the Cayman courts....

In "Uncle Shariah" in the Washington Times, December 16, Frank Gaffney details why AIG's nationalization is so worrisome: The insurance giant AIG has lately become the poster child for corporate risk-taking, mismanagement and greed. Its unimaginably large losses, rooted in insurance it extended to financial companies engaged in subprime mortgage-backed transactions, have destroyed both AIG's corporate reputation and balance sheet. Indeed, but for the fact that Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson - who during his days running Goldman Sachs had extensive ties to AIG - deemed the insurance firm "too large to fail," the company would surely have gone under by...

Think that class warfare and mindless anti-business hatred don’t have real-life consequences? Think again: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Much political hay has been made in Congress about “unpatriotic” corporations that move operations abroad. Weatherford International is the latest, taking its headquarters from Houston to Switzerland. The oil services company said that it wants to be closer to its markets. But what it really meant was that it no longer saw the future in the U.S. In a political atmosphere of blaming corporations, it’s no wonder. Halliburton fled to Dubai in 2007. Tyco International, Foster Wheeler and Transocean International all went to Switzerland. As...

Socialist Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez mocked George W. Bush as a "comrade" on Wednesday, saying the U.S. president was a hard-line leftist for his government's intervention of major private banks in the U.S. financial crisis. Chavez, who calls capitalism an evil and ex-Cuban leader Fidel Castro his mentor, ridiculed Bush for his plan for the federal government to take equity in American banks despite the U.S. right-wing's criticism of Venezuelan nationalizations. "Bush is to the left of me now," Chavez told an audience of international intellectuals debating the benefits of socialism. "Comrade Bush announced he will buy shares in private...

Thanks to globalization, it is now increasingly easy for capital to cross national borders. Investors naturally prefer lower–tax jurisdictions, so there is a shift of jobs and investment out of high–tax nations. This is having a big impact on tax policy. Simply stated, tax competition is compelling governments to dramatically lower their tax rates. This has important implications for China, the United States, and other every nation seeking to play a role in the world economy. As recently as 1980, the average top statutory corporate tax rate in industrialized nations was nearly 50 percent. Top personal income tax rates were...

The US brewer Anheuser-Busch has agreed to be taken over by Belgium-based InBev, in a move that will create the world's largest beer maker. The $50bn (£25bn) takeover bid by InBev, which makes Stella Artois beer, was accepted by Anheuser's board. The combined company will now be called Anheuser-Busch InBev. Anheuser makes Budweiser - the most popular beer in the US - and some US politicians had expressed anger at the prospect of a foreign takeover. 'Unrivalled brands' In a concession to political concerns about the deal, Budweiser's headquarters will remain in St Louis, Missouri while none of Anheuser's US...

WASHINGTON, Mar 18, 2008 - A new study from the Tax Foundation, a nonpartisan tax research group in Washington, shows that most American states tax job providers at a higher rate than any other country in the developed world. "This is startling news for America's businesses and workers," said Tax Foundation president Scott Hodge, the study's author. "Tax competition for jobs and investment is fierce, and the U.S. continues to fall further and further behind. Our states should be the world's leaders in many things, but high taxation should not be one of them. The high federal corporate tax rate...

Edwards Slams Top Clinton Strategist's Ties to BlackwaterEdwards Assails Clinton as 'Corporate Democrat' By JAKE TAPPER Oct. 5, 2007 In a scathing attack, Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards went after front-runner Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., Friday, calling her a "corporate Democrat," comparing top Clinton campaign strategist Mark Penn to former Bush aide Karl Rove and assailing Penn's ties to Blackwater USA, the embattled private firm of military contractors accused by the Iraqi government of firing upon and killing 11 unarmed Iraqi civilians last month. "Bush has been a perfect example of cronyism because Blackwater has given hundreds of thousands of...

'America's private army' under fire for Illinois facility Anti-war activists, locals are wary about military contractor's new training site By E.A. Torriero Tribune staff reporter 6:11 AM CDT, July 23, 2007 MT. CARROLL, Ill. Strangers rarely venture onto the twisting gravel roads in this corner of the state, and those who do sometimes get lost amid the rolling hills. So it came as a surprise to many locals when the expert marksmen of Blackwater USA -- a controversial military contractor that provides armed security guards in the Iraq war -- took over an 80-acre rifle range and opened up a...

The one tyranny that the founders missed!

Asia continues to look attractive in our annual ranking of tax burden. And even China's bum score may be deceiving. Our 2006 Tax Misery & Reform Index offers a global view of the top marginal rates of taxation--the ones that typically most affect a successful entrepreneur. The news is good as the rates generally continue to decrease around the world. The Misery scores--a sum of six tax rates--are lower in 16 of the locations this year, with France decreasing the most (although still in the top position). There was no change in 28 locations, and only 8 increased Tax Misery...