I love Tim Hortons. When I think of Canada, Timmies is one of the first things that come to mind. I drink my coffee from a Tim Hortons cup every morning. Burger King? What?
Turns out, it’s a tax thing. By merging with Tim Hortons, Burger King becomes, in effect, a Canadian citizen:
The proposed deal would be structured as a so-called tax inversion transaction to move Burger King’s domicile out of the United States, and could come as soon as in the next few days, according to sources familiar with the discussions.
Feh.
Ha! Payback for sending us Justin Bieber.
America’s job-creators, just doing what they do. /s
I will NEVER go back to Burger King. Scumbags. (Heh, I’ll probably be healthier for it.)
Of course, Congress could fix it by reducing the corporate tax rate which is in the 30s percentage-wise. Apple has promised to repatriate billions if they do.
And they can impose taxes on Burger King for being a traitor. Don’t let them get away with it.
But noooooo. The free market fundamentalists can’t fathom such a thing.
Big mergers rarely work. It’s a clash of cultures and values at best, a blood letting at worst. The combined company loses focus, customers suffer, and employees wish they were dead. The only people who are happy are shareholders for a short period of time if the stock inflates. Then they want their cuts.
This merger sounds like a spreadsheet jockey’s wet dream which is worst possible reason for a merger.
Dear Canada, Enjoy! Sincerely, the American Medical Association.
patriotism! when the going gets tough, the tough get….going to canada.
Cheaper than the Caymans, eh?
if the corporate tax rate is so much of a hardship today, why are they paying their executives an average of 350x that of worker pay? it used to be only 20x in the 1950s.
if corporate taxes are killing corporations, how can they afford to balloon executive pay over the decades?
Walgreen’s was going to do this and backed down (at least for now) after customers started saying they would take their business elsewhere. I have the feeling Burger King won’t care or its customers won’t make a big stink. Of course, I stopped going to Burger King years ago because their Whoppers make me make a big stink. Oops. TMI.
Define “work.” If the current executives all get huge bonuses for increased, short-term, profits from taking advantage of a tax loophole very likely to close soon, that probably “works” just fine for them. If a bunch of fast-food employees lose their jobs in the inevitable cost-cutting that comes after same store year-over-year sales fall, so be it. As for all the people that will lose jobs as the “normal” fall-out of a merger (e.g. duplicated accounting, HR, infrastructure, and logistics people) well they’re just collateral damage expected from any merger.
No one, in authority, really cares. Legislators are totally beholden to those executives, and other 1%-ers, who bankroll their political campaigns. Besides, most fast-food workers don’t vote, and even if they do, their district is most likely so gerrymandered that their vote is diluted to the point of worthlessness (cf http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/09/us/florida-redraws-an-election-map-that-was-ruled-to-be-unconstitutional.html?_r=0).
More accurately; Dear Canada you have single-payer health care, so the angioplasty you’ll need as a result of this will be free. Congratulations.
Regardless of the U.S. tax implications, my question is, why would Burger King be a better partner for Tim Horton’s than Wendy’s was?
Better Burger King than Starbucks.
Right?
Read Fast Food Nation.
You’ll never go to any centrally-distributed burger franchise again after reading it. I haven’t.
I used to like Tim Horton’s a lot more than I do now. Honestly, I think being bought out by Burger King and having Burger King mark their territory would probably improve TH at this point.
Fifteen years ago? COMPLETELY different story.
We do have Burger King here already, you know. 🙂
Because employee pay is tax deductable. Also, the problem with US corporate tax is that it’s also applied to earnings US companies have made abroad and that have already been taxed there. Why should Apple pay tax twice for earnings on an iPhone that has been produced in China and sold, for example, in Hong Kong?
How will Burger King same store sales fall just because Tim Horton’s is now part of the company? Zero overlap…
they shouldnt, and thats why companies like apple keep their overseas cash…overseas.
has nothing to do w/ my point — US companies are going better than ever and are more profitable than ever. and theyre executive class is getting paid more than ever.
if it were merely because employee pay is tax deductible, then we would also see a correlated increase in average worker pay. but we dont, do we?