Burger King: Un-American
[su_right_ad]Burger King’s takeover of Tim Horton’s is a tax dodge. Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown wants a boycott.
Brown, D-Ohio, released a statement Monday calling on consumers to boycott the home of the Whopper after Burger King announced late Sunday that it was in talks to buy Tim Hortons, creating the world’s third-largest fast-food company in the process.
Burger King confirmed the deal on Tuesday; as part of the plan, Burger King would relocate its headquarters to Canada, a move that could lower its corporate taxes.
“Burger King’s decision to abandon the United States means consumers should turn to Wendy’s Old Fashioned Hamburgers or White Castle sliders,” Brown said. “Burger King has always said ‘Have it Your Way’; well my way is to support two Ohio companies that haven’t abandoned their country or customers.” Wendy’s is based in Dublin, Ohio, while White Castle is headquartered in Columbus.
President Obama and Congress have criticized so-called “tax inversions” because they mean a loss of tax revenue for the U.S. government.
rational_thinking_one August 26th, 2014 at 9:07 am
Though there may be some tax savings (BK will still have to pay taxes on US sales), this deal is two worse than average food companies merging to stay alive.
Pistol-Packing August 26th, 2014 at 9:08 am
Ohhhh please, blow it out his blow hole… The US has some of the highest corporate taxes. and you hear it all the time, TAX THE CORPORATIONS MORE…. Exactly why they are leaving.
Esteban Rey August 26th, 2014 at 9:26 am
They don’t pay half of what the tax rate is. At what point do the right wingers stop prostituting themselves for the corporate elite?
Pistol-Packing August 26th, 2014 at 9:48 am
Sooooooooo, I am assuming that you believe it is only republican owned corporations that are paying little taxes??
MIAtheistGal August 26th, 2014 at 10:07 am
I believe he’s implying that republicans are the major cause of the tax loopholes in place that these corporations currently enjoy. But I wouldn’t presume to know for sure that’s what he means.
Esteban Rey August 28th, 2014 at 6:49 pm
Why would you assume that? Are you stupid?
rational_thinking_one August 26th, 2014 at 9:40 am
Fact: in 2010 corporations that made a profit paid an average effective rate of 13%. It wouldn’t matter if the tax rate was 5%. If corps. could move offshore to pay 4%, they’d do it.
Mainah August 26th, 2014 at 9:41 am
No. It started with outsourcing back in the late 80’s and early 90’s.
Pistol-Packing August 26th, 2014 at 9:43 am
and exactly why did that happen?? because people wanted to pay $20 for their sony walkman, not $100
Mainah August 26th, 2014 at 9:50 am
Well, just look at what has happened. There is no middle class to speak of, customer service is in India, and we have Wally world. A company that had to openly state that it depends on poor people to make money. Want to really fry your brain? Read “Fast Food Nation” and “Nickel and Dimed”. Economics of gutting your labor to spike your margin is like killing the cow for a steak.
Pistol-Packing August 26th, 2014 at 9:53 am
as consumers drove the prices down, because they wanted to pay less. what did you think was going to happen??
Mainah August 26th, 2014 at 10:03 am
Well, consumers didn’t drive the price down. If people like the product and there is demand, they’ll buy it. If there is no demand, you could practically give it away and you’ll still end up with too much inventory. Companies outsourced in order to cut labor costs, get around certain health and safety rules, as well as pollution, to spike their profit margin. Your sentence makes no sense in relation to the function of economics in business. In all actuality, it was supply side economics that was instituted during the Regan era, “consumerism” began that drive. Now products no longer last long and are cheaply made. There are more factors in what is wrong with supply side economics than you seem to acknowledge in your reply.
mea_mark August 26th, 2014 at 10:37 am
If PP fully understood economics and how it worked he probably wouldn’t lean to the right. The only people leaning to the right that really understand economics are those that already have most of the money and it is in their best interest to hoard wealth and screw everybody else.
Mainah August 26th, 2014 at 12:35 pm
They don’t even understand that their taxes go to roads, schools, libraries that give free wifi, police, firefighters, and all those other services people seem to take for granted. Like the magical civil service fairy just comes by and goes “poof! A bridge!” I am so sick and tired of people complaining about their taxes when it isn’t the government taking it away without a return. It is actually an investment in your own community and country. Our military functions on taxes, we could be investing in renewable energy instead of creating earthquakes and poisoning water for fracking. That would definitely help our bottom line. Imagine how much we would have if we weren’t relying on oil. How much cleaner things would be as an unintended consequence ….
Drives me crazy. Then I hear “librul” and I have to say “Indie damnit!” They have no fun nicknames for us. sadness.
mea_mark August 26th, 2014 at 10:33 am
Or watch “Inequality for all” the Robert Reich film. http://inequalityforall.com/ The easiest way to get a good overview.
MIAtheistGal August 26th, 2014 at 9:13 am
While some would say our corporate tax rate is too high, the effective corporate tax rate for large corporations is a joke. Many companies pay zero in taxes after tax write offs and dodges. BK is slitting its own throat with this move, as the backlash will depress revenues more than actually paying your taxes would depress the bottom line.
R.J. Carter August 26th, 2014 at 9:35 am
Sherrod wants a boycott? But… but… But I was already boycotting over the rainbow whopper. Now the Democrats WANT me to boycott? What is this, a marketing ploy to get Republicans to buy promosexual whoppers in quantity?
MIAtheistGal August 26th, 2014 at 9:37 am
And here I was just boycotting crappy ‘food’.
mea_mark August 26th, 2014 at 9:55 am
You are becoming more and more of a democrat everyday, how about that? The Liberal mind control machine is starting to work, you are finally starting to see …
Mainah August 26th, 2014 at 10:05 am
Well, anyone who is a Whovian can’t be all bad.
Mainah August 26th, 2014 at 9:35 am
They make me sick. They get the states where they set up in to give them breaks to “bring jobs in”, albeit low wage jobs, then complain that people are takers? Hey big Corps … you need roads in order to ship your artery clogging crap. You need people with decent public school systems to get jobs to buy your artery clogging crap. You need States to be able to afford giving you those tax breaks to set up your artery clogging crap stores. I could go on. Oh yes. Indeed, I could go on.
And we’re the unpatriotic one’s?
mea_mark August 26th, 2014 at 9:43 am
We need to have a 20% higher minimum wage for companies that are not US companies. We should not subsidize their employees, they should make more money. You want to leave and take your corporate office somewhere else and not pay US taxes, fine but you will pay your employees working here more to make up for it.
Mainah August 26th, 2014 at 9:46 am
That sounds reasonable to me. Even Wally world had to say their sales were down because the poor people no longer got unenjoyment benefits. How sad is that? Then you’ve got those “never been poor in my life but I can identify” politicians who say “They’re buying lobsters!” It just makes me want to smash my face into my keyboard. (It’s no longer a 200 dollar fine to punch someone in the face so ….)
mea_mark August 26th, 2014 at 9:52 am
… so we need to punch them at the ballot box. VOTE!
Mainah August 26th, 2014 at 9:54 am
Indeed! Let’s give them some “inversion” therapy. 3:)
Always Right August 26th, 2014 at 9:58 am
Boycotting hurts the employees and the individual franchise owners. If we boycott every company who moves some or all of their operations off shore, we wouldn’t have anywhere to shop. Consider that Jeffrey Immelt, the CEO of GE and president Obama’s jobs consultant moved a big chunk of the company to China, as did GM and too many other companies to list.
Mainah August 26th, 2014 at 10:08 am
Look at Market Basket. Those employees are boycotting the ousting of Demoulas. They’ve stood up for a boss that treats them well. As for anywhere to shop? There will always be a place to shop. Besides, with our technology changing … most people are starting to shop on line. I would be surprised if there will be any large stores in a few years. The new president of Wally world is looking at Amazon’s business model. They aren’t going to be building anymore superstores.
MIAtheistGal August 26th, 2014 at 10:10 am
Are you on twitter, Mainah?
Mainah August 26th, 2014 at 10:12 am
I tried twitter. I don’t totally get it. It’s hard for me to express myself in 140 characters. 🙂
MIAtheistGal August 26th, 2014 at 10:09 am
If people stop buying at BK, then another business will pick up the slack, hopefully one that cares about the communities they are in more than the almighty dollar.
Mainah August 26th, 2014 at 10:10 am
In economics, a vacuum does not exist for long.
mea_mark August 26th, 2014 at 10:26 am
“We wouldn’t have anywhere to shop.” Are you kidding me? Do you really think no one from America would step in to make a profit selling stuff. Always Wrong.
Always Right August 26th, 2014 at 2:35 pm
I said, if you boycott all those corporations who move operations out of the country, you wouldn’t have anywhere to shop. How do you decide who to boycott? So many companies today are operating internationally so to single out BK on the chance that they may move just a small portion of their revenue ($300,000,000) to Canada doesn’t make sense.
Do you boycott GE for moving one of their operations to China? $5 billion in revenue from China operations last year was too low for a market of this size, said Mark Hutchinson, China President for GE.
Remember it was GE who a few years ago reported they pain “0” federal taxes in the US.
Foundryman August 26th, 2014 at 11:14 am
It’s time we make BK the example of what happens in a free market society when the business thumbs their nose at us.
Always Right August 26th, 2014 at 2:27 pm
They are hardly thumbing their nose at us. They aren’t taking jobs away. They still operate in the US providing employment for many US citizens; approximately 200,000 employees.
Burger King is a good public citizen.
http://www.bk.com/cms/en/us/cms_out/digital_assets/files/pages/bk_cr_report_people.pdf
crc3 August 26th, 2014 at 10:10 am
“Home of the Whopper” takes on a whole new meaning now….
Foundryman August 26th, 2014 at 11:09 am
This goes to show the lengths RWNJs will go to destroy America. They will take everything and anything they can, but will give nothing back. Now, who are those leeches and parasites we hear about again?
Always Right August 26th, 2014 at 2:38 pm
Would you please explain how right wingers are tied into BK’s decision to buy Tim Horton?
Robert Merrill Taylor August 26th, 2014 at 4:23 pm
This would make Burger King the first company to flee to Canada as a tax haven. The mind boggles.
fancypants August 26th, 2014 at 11:17 pm
As ive said in private conversations on this topic. If I were in control of this situation I would allow you to move your corporation HQ to other countries but if something goes awry in the future ? You and your employees can move back to the usa but your HQ is NOT moving back.