its Horton's, by the way.
When one company jumps ship to avoid taxes, its the company being greedy. When many companies jump ship to avoid taxes, then one has to question the taxation levels. And by the way, Burger King is owned by a Brazilian based company called 3G.
TIm Horton's used to be Canadian owned. Then it was bought by Wendy's. Then it was divested, anf became Canadian owned again. Now, it is merging with BK, and will be headquartered in Canada. It may end up being headquartered in Canada, but I would think that they may end up moving out here; not because there is anything compelling about Calgary or Alberta, but because we have the lowest tax rates in Canada. Many head offices have moved here, including Iimperial Oil (Exxon's Canadian subsidiary). That was probably partially based on the oil and gas industry being based in Alberta, but I have no doubt that the lowered corporate and personal tax rates in Alberta were a factor.
I think it is time for politicians (around the world, not just the US and Canada) to take a long hard look at their taxation rates/policies, and try to balance the need for revenue against the possibility of driving companies (and people) away to lower tax rate locations. in the case of Burger King, the move to Canadian headquarters will immediately result in a much lower corporate tax rate, and remove the burden of the tax rate including all world wide revenue. Apple, Stanley Tools, and other companies do the same. While I understand the need for the gov't to have revenue, the gov'ts of the world are spending far beyond their income. The solution to that is not to tax more, but to spend only what is coming in. Repeatedly increasing tax rates only serves to push companies and people to lower taxation regions.
Kostas
