If Walgreen Co. moves its HQ to Europe, blame Washington's tax failure

Chicago Tribune ^ | 04/26/2014

[SeekAndFind]

The Swiss cuckoo clock is ticking for Congress and White House to give tax reform more than lip service.

The Walgreen Co. drugstore chain got its start nearly a century ago in downstate Dixon, Ill., before moving its corporate headquarters to Chicago and eventually to north suburban Deerfield.

[SeekAndFind]

Here’s what’s happening folks...

There is a big tax advantage if Walgreen becomes a Swiss company. The U.S. imposes “worldwide taxation,” which means American-based companies not only pay tax on income earned at home but also are subject to tax on income earned overseas. Most other nations, including Switzerland, use “territorial taxation,” which is the common-sense approach of only taxing income earned inside national borders.

The bottom line is that Walgreen, if it becomes a Swiss company, no longer would have to pay tax to the IRS on income that is earned in other nations.

And here’s the problem ( Note to those who keep harping about bringing jobs back to America ).... Many people still think that taxpayers in the US economy’s productive sector should be treated as milk cows that exist solely to feed the Washington spending machine.

AS long as we have this mentality, expect more Walgreens to happen ( Heck, Apple and Google have already started the ball rolling ).

[GreyFriar]

by0 and his leftists will consider it a victory over those dam* capitalists!

[null and void]

Stanley Tools begged congress to make it possible for them to keep their headquarters in the US.

Congress sneered.

[SeekAndFind]

a German think tank put together a “tax attractiveness” ranking based on 16 different variables. The statutory tax rate is one of the measures, of course, but they also look at policies such as “the taxation of dividends and capital gains, withholding taxes, the existence of a group taxation regime, loss offet provision, the double tax treaty network, thin capitalization rules, and controlled foreign company (CFC) rules.”

Here's the result of their study...

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[SeekAndFind]

RE: Stanley Tools begged congress to make it possible for them to keep their headquarters in the US. Congress sneered.

So what did the company do after the sneer?

[HiTech RedNeck]

Well, reality has now sneered back.

[Grampa Dave]

Thanks for your excellent and short explanation of what could happen to Walgreen and other US corporations, who have markets overseas.

So instead of sending jobs over seas, we will be sending our tax $’s and CEO’s and top execs over seas.

“There is a big tax advantage if Walgreen becomes a Swiss company. The U.S. imposes “worldwide taxation,” which means American-based companies not only pay tax on income earned at home but also are subject to tax on income earned overseas. Most other nations, including Switzerland, use “territorial taxation,” which is the common-sense approach of only taxing income earned inside national borders.

The bottom line is that Walgreen, if it becomes a Swiss company, no longer would have to pay tax to the IRS on income that is earned in other nations.

And here’s the problem ( Note to those who keep harping about bringing jobs back to America ).... Many people still think that taxpayers in the US economy’s productive sector should be treated as milk cows that exist solely to feed the Washington spending machine.

AS long as we have this mentality, expect more Walgreens to happen ( Heck, Apple and Google have already started the ball rolling ).”

[COBOL2Java]

The Walgreen Co. drugstore chain got its start nearly a century ago in downstate Dixon, Ill., before moving its corporate headquarters to Chicago and eventually to north suburban Deerfield.

[null and void]

I believe they moved corporate headquarters to the Bahamas. You’d never know it from their website...

[Yaelle]

Yay Switzerland! They get it!

Boo, home team!

[dennisw]

I fail to see how it matters one way or another if the sniveling little b!tches (Walgreens) moves to Switzerland. Either way they will be taxed on what they earn in the USA.

If they stay here we all know the scam. They will want to bring in overseas earnings tax free to distribute to investors-stockholders. No....they will not be investing that money here as they like to lie about. Anyways they can use US earnings for that

Even if the tax they pay in Germany is 5% and the US tax authorities want Walgreens to pay the difference between the German tax rate and the American tax rate which lets say is 20%.

These transnational corporations have no loyalty to America. F’em and better yet tax them!

[null and void]

I believe they moved corporate headquarters to the Bahamas. You’d never know it from their website...

[Balding_Eagle]

Interpretation needed for the tables. What do the numbers represent?

[USFRIENDINVICTORIA]

“I fail to see how it matters one way or another ....”

Go back and reread the article — carefully this time.

The taxes on US-based earnings are not the issue.

[null and void]

Either way they will be taxed on what they earn in the USA.

Yup. But if they remain a US corporation the IRS will continue to tax ALL OF THEIR WORLD WIDE INCOME.

If they become a Swiss corporation, or a Bahamas corporation, or a Chinese corporation, or a Zimbabwe corporation the IRS will only tax them on USA income.

Do the math!

[dennisw]

Yup. But if they remain a US corporation the IRS will continue to tax ALL OF THEIR WORLD WIDE INCOME.|If they become a Swiss corporation, or a Bahamas corporation, or a Chinese corporation, or a Zimbabwe corporation the IRS will only tax them on USA income.
Do the math!

You do the math! The IRS wants Walgreens to pay the difference between the US tax and lets say the Luxemburg tax. If Luxemburg is only taxing Walgrerens operations at 4% then the IRS wants the difference. I have no problem with this..... Walgreens can keep those earnings out of the US for all I care. Then the IRS gets no tax from them

[null and void]

So if the tax rate in Luxemburg is 4% and the US tax is 25% you have no problem with them paying 4% to Luxemburg and 21% to the USofA?

Let's see, that's a 21% penalty over what any Luxemburg company pays, isn't it?

That means to sell in Luxemburg they would have to charge 21% more than a company headquartered anywhere else on earth than the USA.

If you were a citizen of Luxemburg would you pay 21% more to buy the same product from a foreign company as from a native company?

Would you buy Exxon gas at $9.68/gallon or pay $8.00/gallon for essentially the same product from Royal Dutch Shell?

Is it remotely possible that this creates a world wide disadvantage for American headquartered companies?

Also, what exactly are they getting for the taxes paid on Luxemburg income? Do the local affiliates get better local roads? Reliable power? EPA regulation of Luxemburg operations? Access to Congress? Schools for their children? National Parks? What?

[ex-snook]

Money before country. So what does a man die for?

[Oldexpat]

There is a long list of companies that would pay less overall tax by moving their HQ’s out of the US. The US has a bad corp tax policy versus even the more socialist countries..like Germany etc. It makes US companies less competitive and reduces US Exports...as well as preventing profits from being returned to the US. If you want fewer US jobs and fewer major companies HQ in the US..just continue the current tax law. Screw the multinationals and we will get the fid as well.