While the United States maintains one of the highest corporate tax rate, and with other business unfriendly tax hikes on the horizon in the Obama administration (cap gains, income) many businesses are, get this… relocating to low tax areas.
Over the past six months companies including offshore
drilling contractors Noble Corp and Transocean, energy-focused
engineering group Foster Wheeler and oilfield services company
Weatherfield International have all announced plans to shift
domicile to Switzerland.
"Switzerland has a stable and developed tax regime and a
network of tax treaties with most countries where we operate,"
Transocean Chief Executive Bob Long said in a statement in
October, when it announced its move. "As a result, the
redomestication will improve our ability to maintain a
competitive worldwide effective corporate tax rate."
"Competitive worldwide effective corporate tax rate." Something the United States doesn't have.
If Obama really wanted to turn our nation's economy around, bring more capital to our shores and create jobs here, he'd should be cutting taxes not raising them. Reduce our corporate tax rate to 10% and watch the money flow back in. Companies will be tripping over themselves to repatriate income to and pay lower tax rates than they would elsewhere.
Of course, North Carolina would largely miss out on this boom since it maintains the highest corporate tax rate in the Southeast.
Chris,
10% is good enough for God. It is MORE than good enough for the feds!