It has been said that there are only two certainties in life: death and taxes. Accepting this, it is still important to acknowledge that no one likes paying taxes; corporations are no different. One of the newer mechanisms they employ is a strategy called tax inversion. This involves American businesses buying land subsidiaries overseas, which then becomes their corporate headquarters, enabling said company to classify itself as a foreign company. The result is lower corporate taxes. The question then becomes: should tax inversion be classified as fraud? By forgoing certain taxes, these companies are essentially robbing both the people and the government of the United States, even if it is through legal actions. It is important to distinguish legality from ethics in this example. If a company wants to continue to call themselves “American” and receive the benefits associated with this (tax credits and direct business with government) they must accept their necessary responsibilities. Taxes are not subjected to personal tastes. If corporate personhood is truly evident in our society, then bias cannot be shown towards corporations. Businesses cannot pick and choose the components of this construct that they wish to indulge in. Their actions have and will continue to be unjust, unless proper government legislation is implemented, as alluded to in the article.
Post 1: Tax Inversion – Just Because Something is Legal, Should it be Allowed?
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