Barack Obama insults Western allies as “tax havens”

posted at 3:42 pm on May 5, 2009 by Ed Morrissey
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Remember when Barack Obama ran on the promise to restore our diplomatic relations with out allies in the West?  The Dutch and the Irish just discovered its expiration date.  In rolling out his plan to close supposed loopholes for multinational corporations, the Obama administration attacked Ireland, the Netherlands, and Bermuda as “tax havens” specifically and explicitly acting to deny the US government its due from tax collections.  The Dutch are particularly incensed (via TMV):

Ambassador Renee Jones-Bos reached out to both the White House and the Treasury Department to express her displeasure with a fact sheet released by the administration that said “nearly one-third of all foreign profits reported by U.S. corporations in 2003 came from just three small, low-tax countries: Bermuda, the Netherlands and Ireland.” …

“We were greatly surprised to see The Netherlands appear in this paper, because we are working together with the U.S. – also in a G20 framework – in dealing with countries that have bank secrecy or are non-transparent,” spokesman Floris van Hövell. “The Netherlands shares tax-related information with the U.S. without reservation.”

The White House did not return a request for comment.

Van Hovell said in a phone call and follow-up email to The Hill that the Dutch corporate tax rate is 25.5 percent, “which puts us in the medium-tax rate category (and not in the low-tax category).”
He added that in the past decade, The Netherlands has entered into exchange treaties with countries like the U.S.

“The Netherlands is the 16th largest economy in the world and the 4th largest investor in the USA; the USA is the largest investor in the Netherlands,” he wrote.

Meanwhile, Ireland — which can expect to take a big hit to its already-struggling economy — waxes more fatalistic (via William Amos):

Fine Gael’s Enterprise spokesman Leo Varadkar said Ireland was not a tax haven and the Government must fight to ensure this tag was not applied to us.

Despite the delay before its implementation the plan is likely to hit the Irish economy. The exchequer could lose billions in tax revenue if firms decide it is no longer financially worthwhile to keep their money here. US officials also cited Ireland as an example of a place where jobs have been created that could easily have gone to a US state. …

Mr Obama announced the changes, despite intensive lobbying from corporations. Industry leaders claim US companies will be at a disadvantage as they will be subject to double taxation.

It could force US corporations to move their headquarters abroad, business leaders claim. That somewhat unlikely scenario could benefit Ireland.

So much for handling our diplomatic relations with a more respectful, less arrogant tone.

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