Letter: If companies are citizens, then . . .
Burger King could expand to Canada as the fast-food chain attempts to buy Tim Hortons. Credit: Julie Cappiello
Your editorial absolving Burger King of its plan to duck U.S. taxes seems to have been written by the Chamber of Commerce or the Republican Party ["Don't blame Burger King for ducking U.S. taxes," Aug. 27].
The Supreme Court in its horrific Citizens United decision stated that corporations are also citizens. But individual citizens, unlike corporations, have civic responsibilities that go beyond making as much money as possible. For example, what's the corporate equivalent of serving in the military?
No one doubts that our corporate tax system is broken, but that's not the same as saying corporations pay too much. Only 6 percent of U.S. corporations are subject to the 35 percent corporate tax rate, according to the Congressional Research Service. The bottom-line corporate tax rate is actually just 12.6 percent, according to the Government Accountability Office.
Can we noncorporate citizens do tax inversions too?
Mitchell Klein, Glen Cove
