In 2012, Eaton Corporation, a global power company, acquired Ireland based Cooper Industries, an electrical equipment supplier. Overall, this deal is expected to save Eaton $160 million in taxes by 2016. (Gilleard, 2012). With Corporate Inversions like this on the rise, it is projected that the United States Treasury could lose up to $19.5 billion dollars over the next 10 years. ( Sloan, Jeelani,Wahba,Casey & Jones, 2014). After the merger of Eaton and Cooper, Eaton’s 2013 effective tax rate was only .6%. This was down from 2.5% in 2012 and 12.9% in 2011. According to Eaton’s Securities and Exchange Commission’s filing, much of this decrease was due to their acquisition of cooper (Drawbaugh, 2014). While corporate inversions are legal, we must ask ourselves if they are ethical.
Ireland is a popular destination for corporations looking to invert. For one, while the U.S has a 35% tax rate, Ireland only taxes corporations at 12.5%. However, corporate functions need to be located in areas with good non-tax advantages. Tax savings alone do not always justify the costs of inversion (Marian, 2015). Corporations like Ireland because the country provides numerous non-tax advantages in addition to such a low corporate rate. For one, Ireland has a skilled workforce, with universities pushing students towards science and engineering. Being a member of the European Union, corporations headquartered in Ireland have access to over 500 million customers, as well as the opportunity to hire
The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the legality and ethicality of the corporate governance activities that occurred in an ethics case presented in the text. The paper will provide relevant details regarding the legality of the activities, the criteria by which Sarbanes-Oxley would apply to this case, the ethicality of the activities, whether or not the activities were equitable to internal and external stakeholders, and the next steps representing best interest of all stakeholders.
The Thirteenth Amendment loophole is significantly advantageous for corporations and their executives because they unethically manipulate it to boost their profits.
In recent years, more than twenty major American companies have left the United States and moved overseas to take advantage of lower tax rates, taking with them jobs and investments (Allen, D). The recent surge of interest in United States corporate inversions has triggered calls for Congress to put an end to the practice. A corporate inversion is when an American company merges with a foreign business and moves the combined business’s headquarters to the foreign country. Inversions are a problem because they are a symptom of a broken tax system that is hurting the United States economy. Furthermore, with the strict laws concerning inversions, some companies opt to direct profits to their foreign subsidiaries to take advantage of lower
Between the years 2000 and 2002 there were over a dozen corporate scandals involving unethical corporate governance practices. The allegations ranged from faulty revenue reporting and falsifying financial records, to the shredding and destruction of financial documents (Patsuris, 2002). Most notably, are the cases involving Enron and Arthur Andersen. The allegations of the Enron scandal went public in October 2001. They included, hiding debt and boosting profits to the tune of more than one billion dollars. They were also accused of bribing foreign governments to win contacts and manipulating both the California and Texas power markets (Patsuris, 2002). Following these allegations, Arthur Andersen was investigated for, allegedly,
Throughout years large American industrial companies have been running away from U.S. taxes, but there has been a new change. Companies such as Apple and Google have been affected by a change foreign countries are going through collecting higher taxes than before. It seems as if no longer can these companies get away with paying low taxes. This is happening because the European Commission have passed an order to collect high taxes. One example is Ireland who was ordered to collect fourteen billion dollars from Apple, which brought a surprise to this company. Companies have run out of places to run and pay one percent or less of taxes in foreign places, instead of paying back home.
The main objective of many companies is to minimize their tax obligations. Jeffers (2014) discussed the reason of why companies adopt tax inversion strategies. The researcher indicated that the income maximization is a major reason of companies attempting to reduce their tax liability (pp. 100-101). Tax inversion strategies provide companies an advantage to lower income tax rate. Today, U.S. corporations renounce its U.S. citizenship and move to low-tax countries. Companies that reincorporate oversees are not obligated to pay U.S. taxes on earning income (p. 99). Many countries implement tax competition strategies to attract and retain businesses. Well-known companies, such as Exxon Mobil, Hewlett Packard, Tyco, General Electric, PepsiCo, etc. take benefits of tax shelter opportunities overseas (p. 102). Other benefits of the jurisdiction abroad are flexible banking laws and simplified litigation processes.
This article begins by explaining that recently many American corporations have moved their headquarters from the U.S. to forging lands in attempts to cut down on taxes. It explains that this is called inversion, and while a few corporations doing so is simply irritating, mass inversion can be detrimental to our society. Another form of inversion is in the form of “never here” which are private companies, which began as U.S. companies that go private and move out of the country only to move to another country to become public. This enables them to duck out of many U.S. taxes without being accused of deserting the U.S.
During this essay I will compare the difference of economic and policy development of Ireland, north or south in relation to the United Kingdom. As of today Ireland themselves are bit more advanced, exchange secondary economy. Ireland was among the starting gathering of 12 EU countries that started streaming the euro on 1 January 2002 “Although Ireland had aspirations to become a member of the Community as far back as 1961 it was not until 1972 when a referendum confirmed Ireland’s entry into the European Community with 83 per cent of voters supporting membership. Ireland formally acceded to the then EEC in 1973”. (Loughran, 2015).
“The United States has the highest corporate tax rate of the 34 developed, free-market nations that make up the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). The marginal corporate tax rate in the United States is 35% at the federal level… according to the 2013 OECD Tax Database. The global average is much lower, at 25%” (Fontinelle, 2014). Even though there are ways for businesses to decrease or even avoid these payments, this high figure deters foreign investors from considering the United States for business and sends them looking in more favorable countries like Canada or Ireland. Adding to pushing away potential foreign investors, U.S. firms flee to those tax favorable places to avoid it. “When these companies move their headquarters or create foreign subsidiaries, jobs and profits move overseas” (Fontinelle,
Excello Telecommunications has been a profitable company for many years, but recently the competitive landscape has become tougher. Competition from overseas manufacturers has lowered Excello’s market share and profits. For the first time it looks as is Excello will not meet earnings estimates. This information directly impacts bonuses, stock options, and the company’s share price. Top level management is concerned about the extent this impact will have on the company. This paper will serve to determine the ethicality of Excello’s actions and demonstrate what ethical standards and regulations
Tax inversion can be commonly found to be used in America. Tax inversion is when a corporation or business relocates their operation overseas to reduce how much taxes they have to pay. When companies are picking a country to relocate to they are mostly looking for one that has lower tax rates and little to no corporate requirements. I can see in way why corporations take this route when it comes to high tax rates, but looking at it from a bigger picture I believe that corporation should not be allowed to relocate to avoid tax rates. Taxes are vital to the economy as they play a big role in our life every day. Taxes pay for public schools, police department, roadwork, public transportation, and much more. I have personally used many of the services
After reading a few different articles, I was hooked by the article on Crooksandliars.com titled, “Burger King’s Tax Inversion: A Whopper of a Deal!” I guess the best way to give an answer, totally depends on what side of the table one is sitting on. I think we all could agree that everyone in the U.S. tries to find ways to cut their taxes due rate. Is that unethical? I sure hope not because we are all guilty of it. Then, again, if I was a shareholder in Burger King, I probably wouldn’t care if it was ethical or not because I would be raking in the buckies. That is part of having that 1%er mentality. As an American, even though I try to cut my taxes due, I still render unto Caesar what is Caesars and if a company, no matter its homeland,
In this assignment I will outline and discuss the Historical Development of the ECEC sector in Ireland.
The overwhelming facts point to a shady underworld of self-dealing and opportunistic exploitation of the poor and working class, which was until recently, well hidden from the commoner. The executives of WorldCom and Enron provide real world examples of unethical business practices, where the desire to make money for their shareholders transcended into an addiction to greed and self-dealing that were displayed by their, “excessive pay, perks, and golden parachutes”(Carson 392) at the expense of all stakeholders. All is not lost, there are corporations that pride themselves in their sound business model and commitment to ethical business practices. Such companies as Eaton Corporation, and Weyerhaeuser, who according to Ethisphere.com, a business ethics watchdog, are among the “2010 World`s most ethical companies.” (Ethisphere)
It really would depend exactly on what specific type of industry the small Irish firm was dealing in. According to Ghemawat “In some industries, however, competitive advantage comes from economic arbitrage”