Investing

Big Company Executives Attack Government on Inversion Stance

Douglas A. McIntyre

Published: April 5, 2016 5:17 pm

Last Updated: January 13, 2020 11:07 am

The Business Roundtable, the primary representatives of the chief executive officers of America’s largest companies, made a statement about business combinations that involve tax inversions. The comments came as a reaction to a rise in support to stop U.S. companies from moving headquarters overseas to save taxes.

The deal most immediately imperiled is between Pfizer Inc. and (NYSE: PFE) Allergan PLC (NYSE: AGN). While the Roundtable statement is self-serving, it does have a certain logic that the rules about inversions be clarified, especially to the benefit of multinationals:

Unilateral action by the Treasury, along with heated political rhetoric, are no substitute for cooperative, bipartisan legislation to address the non-competitive U.S. tax code.

Everyone, including the President, knows that real reform is the only way to stop companies from establishing their tax headquarters in foreign countries via ‘inversion.’

Additional, stop-gap regulation would fail to address the systemic anti-competitive nature of the U.S. tax system. ‘Inversions’ are not the answer either, but they are a self-help response to an outdated tax system that needs to be fixed.

Direct engagement between the Administration and Congress on tax reform is long overdue.”