BREAKING: Obama to take executive actions to make it more difficult for corporations to dodge taxes

[pampango]

25. CBC: Tim Hortons, Burger King merger fallout: U.S. cracks down on tax inversions

The Obama administration cracked down Monday on certain overseas corporate mergers and acquisitions, aiming to curb American companies from shifting their ownership abroad to shirk paying U.S. taxes. New regulations from the Treasury Department will make these co-called corporate inversions less lucrative by barring creative techniques that companies use to lower their tax bill. Additionally, the U.S. will make it harder for companies to move overseas in the first place by tightening the ownership requirements they must meet.

"This action will significantly diminish the ability of inverted companies to escape U.S. taxation," Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew said. He added that for some companies considering inversions, the new measures would mean inverting would "no longer make economic sense."

Democrats generally supported the action as the best the administration could do without action from Congress while Republicans faulted the administration for not making a greater effort to work with Congress to enact comprehensive corporate tax reform.

"The administration has made a good effort but administrative action can only go so far," Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said in a statement. "This rule makes some companies think twice before inverting, but legislation is sorely needed."

Republicans pointed out that the U.S. has the highest corporate tax rate in the developed world and argued that Obama should be pursuing efforts to simplify the tax code, not punish companies.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/tim-hortons-burger-king-merger-fallout-u-s-cracks-down-on-tax-inversions-1.2774913

republicans don't like this and, once again, push for lower corporate taxes.