Bill Clinton Defends Corporate Inversions, Won’t Call Them ‘Unpatriotic’

Bill Clinton Defends Corporate Inversions, Won’t Call Them ‘Unpatriotic’ (Mediaite)

President Obama spoke of corporate inversions (the practice of companies moving their headquarters overseas for tax reasons) a lot this year, even saying that staying in the U.S. should be considered an act of “economic patriotism.” Bill Clinton, meanwhile, was on CNBC today, and not only did he not directly answer the question of whether inversion is “unpatriotic,” but he actually offered some explanations for why companies might reasonably feel the need to pursue this avenue.

He said corporations “feel duty-bound to pay the lowest taxes they can pay,” and while admitting he supported and signed a bill to raise corporate taxes to the current level, Clinton did note that the U.S. has “the highest overall corporate tax rates in the world.”

And to big companies, Clinton said, the tax code “is crazy.” He also pointed out that companies will still have to pay the U.S. tax rate on money made in America.