JOIN ME in boycotting Burger King for it's recent gambit for avoiding paying taxes to the U.S.
Yesterday (Aug. 26) the fast-food Whopper maker completed its purchase of Canadian-based Tim Horton's, thus making Burger King the third-biggest of the fast-food chains in America.
The tax-saving maneuver has been denounced by political leaders and at least one senator has called for a boycott.
Burger King's decision to abandon the United States means consumers should turn to Wendy's Old Fashioned Hamburgers or White Castle sliders," said Senator Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio). "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, Ohio.
Burger King will move its corporate headquarters from Miami to Canada. It is owned by a Brazilian conglomerate and they don't care what country the headquarters is as long as it saves the struggling company money.
While Burger King downplays the tax benefits it would receive, many believe that the move to purchase a foreign company and transfer its headquarters to Canada is in response to President Obama's recent denunciation of American companies strategy to avoid paying U.S. taxes.
News of the deal came out over the weekend and people flooded the fast-food chains Facebook page with boycott threats.
President Obama spoke out about the strategy of "tax inversion" last month and threatened to place restrictions on companies who wanted to pursue that route. Tax Inversion is a situation wherein an American company buys a company based in another country with a lower tax rate, opts out of its American corporate citizenship and becomes a corporate citizen of the foreign country. What it comes down to is tax avoidance.
America gives a company its start, U.S. banks finance it, goods are shipped on government-built roads, American job training programs trains its workers and American colleges produces its management, American-built roads deliver the goods, American customers give it a solid financial foundation. Hell, government granted businesses like Burger King to incorporate with rights and privileges. Corporations like Burger King want to turn its back on America and the taxpayer-funded system that allowed and encouraged it to thrive and grow.
The U.S. corporate tax is high, 35%, but through our loophole-laced tax code, the average American corporation's tax rate is 12-15%, much lower than most households of middle class America. Some corporations are so good at dodging taxes they pay zero, nada, nothing -- in taxes. (That's not fair or right either.)
I gladly pay my taxes and I'm sure most of you pay your taxes because we are part of a larger community. Our taxes comes back to us in our infrastructure, our education, our water delivery systems, sewage, electricity and other government services, Social Security, Medicare and the Affordable Care Act.
Earlier this month, drugstore giant Walgreens also was seeking a tax inversion but after the bad publicity and customer backlash, it decided to abandon those plans.
If Burger King doesn't appreciate what our system of government and economy allowed the company to do; if Burger King doesn't care about our country; if Burger King doesn't need us, well, -- WE DON'T NEED IT. There are plenty of other burger joints in town.
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