California Conservative

According to this article, President Obama’s tax policies are literally causing oil companies to move to tax-friendly Switzerland:

The tidy towns and mountain vistas of Switzerland are an unlikely setting for an oil boom. Yet a wave of energy companies has in the last few months announced plans to move to Switzerland, mainly for its appeal as a low-tax corporate domicile that looks relatively likely to stay out of reach of Barack Obama’s tax-seeking administration.

In a country with scant crude oil production of its own, the virtual energy boom has changed the canton or state of Zug, about 30 minutes’ drive from Zurich, beyond all recognition. Its economy was based on farming until it slashed tax rates to attract commerce after World War Two.

This is entirely predictable. Democrats have always hinted that tax policies don’t change companies’ behaviors. That’s nonsense. This article is proof that tax policies, especially extremist tax policies like President Obama’s, dramatically change corporate behavior.

Over the past six months companies including offshore drilling contractors Noble Corp and Transocean, energy-focused engineering group Foster Wheeler and oilfield services company Weatherfield International have all announced plans to shift domicile to Switzerland.

“Switzerland has a stable and developed tax regime and a network of tax treaties with most countries where we operate,” Transocean Chief Executive Bob Long said in a statement in October, when it announced its move. “As a result, the redomestication will improve our ability to maintain a competitive worldwide effective corporate tax rate.”

President Obama’s extremist tax policies are driving companies out of America. This isn’t unlike what happened when a Democratic congress tried raising taxes on luxury items such as yachts. Democrats figured that it would increase tax revenues by soaking the rich for luxury items. Instead, it drove yacht sales away from the United States. Rather than soaking the rich, the evil rich people simply bought their yachts from tax friendly countries in the Caribbean.

‘The rich’ will always have these types of options. They’ll change their habits just like TCF is doing:

A subsidiary of Wayzata-based TCF Financial Corp., TCF National Bank intends to open a branch in Sioux Falls next month. The bank’s headquarters will move there April 1, said spokesman Jason Korstange. The change will have no impact on TCF’s operations or employment levels in Minnesota, he said.

“We’ve been thinking about it for some time,” Korstange said. “We’re moving our headquarters there so we can save money.”

It’s time that Democrats admitted that tax policies have consequences.

This isn’t the only way in which President Obama’s tax policies will hurt our economy. I’m reminded by this post about yesterday’s blogger conference call that Mike Pence said this about cap-and-trade:

Congressman Pence noted a study from MIT estimating that the cap and trade program will increase energy costs to such a great extent that the average household will, in effect, be charged a tax of over $3000 a year.

It isn’t just that the tax increase will be seen in a person’s heating bill. It’s that companies that see their heating bills rise will pass those increases along to consumers in much the same way that rising gas prices caused a spike in grocery prices.

It’s time that President Obama stopped pursuing transformative policies if they’ll cripple America’s economy. We don’t need transformation if that transformation leads to higher prices and less money in families’ wallets.

Technorati Tags: Taxes, Cap And Trade, Corporate Taxes, Switzerland, South Dakota, Oil Companies, Banks, President Obama, Economy