Wyden: AbbVie smart to stay American
Senate Finance Chairman Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) said Friday that he hopes to build on the pharmaceutical company AbbVie’s move away from a tax inversion.
AbbVie’s board advised shareholders to vote against the proposed merger with the Irish competitor Shire, which Wyden said showed the company saw “the strategic business value of remaining an American company.”
“I’m confident that the enduring value of being an American enterprise with the most skilled, productive workforce in the world will continue to help U.S. companies compete and thrive in the global economy,” Wyden said.
AbbVie’s decision comes just weeks after the Treasury Department rolled out new rules aimed at making the offshore tax deals less attractive for companies.
Wyden said he hoped the decision by AbbVie and other companies to not seek an inversion could build momentum for a broader overhaul of the tax code.
But Democrats and Republicans have been unable to find common ground on potential targeted anti-inversion legislation, even as all sides agree that the Obama administration can only do so much to curb the deals.
“While it looks like the rush of inversions is slowing, we are continuing to examine the issue while focusing on fixing the root problem – our broken tax code,” Wyden said.
