Open thread for night owls: Five fat corporadoes want to abandon United States to avoid taxes

Corporations also enjoy lower tax rates than people do. (Except for the people who make a gain from the shares: they get a special, even lower tax rate called “capital gains.” Why is this? The capital gains tax rate is lower because the wealthiest make most of their income from capital gains, and the wealthiest make most of their income from capital gains because the capital gains tax rate is lower.)

And of course, corporate “persons” never have to die.

In return, we the people of the United States ask corporations to pitch in to help pay for the roads and courts and schools and scientific research and government contracts and the rest of the things that have helped make them the prosperous entities they are. But a number of American corporations are so fed up with the idea that should pay their taxes that they are actually renouncing their U.S. citizenship. These corporations are “leaving” the U.S. to dodge taxes—but their executives, employees, offices, stores, customers etc. are still here. The only thing that is really leaving the country is the requirement to pay U.S. taxes.

These corporations are able to “leave” the U.S. by engaging in something called inversion. Explaining an inversion is a bit complicated. A U.S. company buys or merges with a non-U.S. company, and the result is that the U.S. company can be considered to be a company from the other country. But at the same time the company keeps most of its operations, etc. inside the U.S. The result is that it might still owe taxes on income reported as made in the U.S., but it owes no taxes on income elsewhere.

Here are five companies—only a handful of the total—that have or are trying to renounce their U.S. citizenship to avoid paying taxes to help cover the benefits they receive.

1. Walgreens […] 2. Medtronic […] 3. Perrigo  […] 4. Ingersoll-Rand  […] 5. Eaton Corp […]

In early July the House passed an amendment by a vote of 221-200 denying federal contracts to American companies that have reincorporated in Bermuda or the Cayman Islands. This is not yet law, but is attached to the Energy/Water appropriations bill. It is a beginning, but only lists these two tax haven countries and won’t affect Walgreens, should it make itself appear to be a Swiss company.

The Stop Corporate Inversions Act of 2014 is a more comprehensive effort that “increases the needed percentage change in stock ownership from 20 percent to 50 percent and provides that the merged company will nevertheless continue to be treated as a domestic U.S. company for tax purposes if management and control of the merged company remains in the U.S. and either 25 percent of its employees or sales or assets are located in the U.S.”

Republicans will obstruct the bill. The Joint Committee on Taxation estimates that the legislation would save $19.5 billion over 10 years.

This would be a start toward fixing this problem. A small start, admittedly, but a start.

Or, that used to be the case, as her administration is rocked by revelations that she and her family used the governor's office to carry out a vendetta against a policeman who was a former brother in-law, up to firing the public safety commissioner because he wouldn't fire the trooper. The top wingnut radio host in the state, a huge fan, has turned on the governor big-time, declaring her a one-term governor. The Republican-dominated state legislature is talking investigations. For a state party rocked by scandal, who had seen Palin as a savior—clean and new, this abuse of power scandal has to be crushing.

Palin doesn't face the voters for another two years, but this scandal has more immediate aftershocks.

We all want Rep. Don Young in the general, as his years of corruption have caught up to him. Polls are showing that Alaskans want change, and Democrats are poised to pick up the seat. Threatening those plans are a competitive Republican primary, as the GOP desperately tries to oust Young and replace him with a less tarnished name.

Lucky for us, two Republicans entered the fray, splitting the anti-Young vote. But one of those two was a top contender—Lt. Governor Sean Parnell. Can you see where this is going?