A senior U.S. senator said on Thursday he has written to Hospira Inc and urged the drug and medical device maker not to move its tax domicile abroad to save on U.S. taxes.
Citing recent reports that Hospira plans to buy the medical nutrition unit of France’s Danone SA, Dick Durbin said in a statement he told Chief Executive Officer Michael Ball that Hospira should not “turn its back on American taxpayers and consumers by taking advantage of a tax loophole called ‘inversion.'”
The statement from the No. 2 Democrat in the Senate came amid growing concern in Washington with inversion transactions, which allow U.S. corporations to shift their tax home-base to a different country and cut their U.S. tax bills.
Of 52 inversions and similar deals done since 1983, 22 have occurred just since 2008, with 10 more being finalized and many more said to be in the works.
Hospira is based in Lake Forest, Illinois, Durbin’s home state. The company could not immediately be reached for comment.
Dickie D. was joined by Comrades Wyden, Levin and Schumer in expressing horror over the fact that U.S. companies will do whatever they legally can to minimize their tax burdens.
It’s pathetically amusing to see Big Tax advocates attempting to make a moral case for their backbreaking treatment of businesses and individuals. Sadly, until average Americans understand that these same lawmakers who want to bury big corporations with tax obligations will also do the same to individuals nothing will change.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member