Corporate Welfare Runs Amok. Reforms to the corporate tax system must be debated on their merits, not under cover of some phony label like ‘job creation.’ [NYT > Opinion]
Congress’s ostensible purpose for allowing the holiday is to unleash
a flood of money for job creation…. But few
of the approved uses for the repatriated funds – such as debt
redemption, advertising and a catchall category of ‘financial
stabilization’ – will lead directly, if at all, to more jobs. One
approved use – the ability to spend the money to buy other companies –
would be more likely to create layoffs, as corporate acquisitions
usually do.
Many of the early entrants in this opportunity — Johnson &
Johnson, Schering-Plough, Eli Lilly — and others that are considering
this tax-free ‘repatriation’ of profits — Pfizer, Hewlett Packard,
Intel — are leaders in ‘corporate social responsibility’. Repatriation
is legal, of course. But is it responsible?