白宫税收新政引发跨国公司众怒

A White House tax crackdown yesterday provoked fury from multinationals as it looked likely to put a halt to Pfizer’s planned $160bn takeover of Allergan, which would let one of the largest US companies move overseas.

白宫出炉的税收打击政策昨日激起跨国公司的愤怒。目前看来，这项政策很有可能阻止辉瑞(Pfizer) 1600亿美元收购艾尔健(Allergan)的计划，这笔交易本来将让美国最大的公司之一迁至海外。

BArack Obama stepped up the offensive, championing new proposals to deter “inversion” deals that companies use to move to low-tax jurisdictions, accusing them of exploiting “one of the most insidious tax loopholes out there”.

巴拉克•奥巴马(Barack Obama)加紧攻势，为新提案叫好，该提案旨在吓阻企业为了迁至低税负司法管辖区而进行“税收倒置”交易。他指责企业利用“最阴损的税收漏洞之一”。

Multinationals responded by saying they were being unfairly caught in the crossfire of Mr Obama’s campaign as their operations in the US could also be affected by the new rules.

跨国公司回应称，他们正被不公平地卷入奥巴马的宣传造势，沦为其靶子，因为他们在美国的业务也可能受到新规则影响。

The angry rhetoric came a day after the Treasury released proposals which threatened the biggest planned inversion to date — Pfizer’s takeover of Irish-domiciled Allergan — and triggered big losses for some hedge funds, such as Paulson & Co and Third Point. “It came as a total surprise. Everyone thought the Treasury had used all their firepower,” said another hedge fund manager.

出现这些愤怒言辞的一天前，美国财政部发布的提案对计划中的迄今最大税收倒置交易——辉瑞收购在爱尔兰注册的艾尔健——构成威胁，进而导致保尔森公司(Paulson & Co)和第三点(Third Point)等对冲基金遭受严重损失。“这件事来得太突然了。大家都以为财政部已经耗尽了所有火力，”另一家对冲基金的经理表示。

Politicians have been riled by a defining trend of the recent M&A boom that has seen dozens of US companies using inversions to escape the high US corporate tax rate.

美国政界人士对近期并购热潮的一个标志性趋势感到愤怒，其中有数十家美国公司利用税收倒置交易逃避美国较高的企业税率。

The latest Treasury moves would make inversions less lucrative by eliminating a tax benefit for “abusive” inverters. But its plan would also deny the benefit to foreign companies with US operations. “Rather than using a scalpel to deal with this issue they are using a machete,” said Nancy McLernon, president of the Organisation for International Investment, a trade group for foreign companies in the US. “It’s a misguided approach. They’re trying to go after those companies that are doing something they think is problematic and carelessly hitting a whole class of employers.”

财政部的最新举措将消除“滥用”倒置交易方的税收优惠，使税收倒置交易不那么有利可图。但是该部的计划也将使在美国开展业务的外资企业得不到这项优惠。“他们不用手术刀解决这个问题，而是使用一把砍刀，”代表在美经营外企的行业团体“国际投资组织”(Organization For International Investment)的总裁南希•麦克莱诺恩(Nancy McLernon)表示。“这是一种误入歧途的做法。他们试图打击那些他们认为行为有问题的公司，却轻率地打击了一大批雇主。”

The tax benefit stems from companies’ use of internal loans to cut their tax bills. By loading up US subsidiaries with debt from head office, foreign companies can deduct the interest payments from their US tax bills — a practice called earnings stripping.

这项税收优惠源于企业利用内部贷款降低其税单。通过让美国子公司背上借自总部的债务，外国公司可从他们的美国税单扣除利息款项；这种做法被称为盈利剥离。

But Ms McLernon said the proposal would penalise foreign companies with long histories in the US that use legitimate intra-company loans to pay for investments in facilities and equipment.

但麦克莱诺恩表示，财政部的提案将惩罚长期在美经营的外资企业，这些企业利用正当的公司内部贷款为设施和设备投资买单。

Her group’s members include Nestlé, Royal Dutch Shell, BASF, Airbus, Nissan, Unilever, Deutsche Telekom, Tate & Lyle and other big multinationals.

她所在的行业团体的成员包括雀巢(Nestlé)、荷兰皇家壳牌(Royal Dutch Shell)、巴斯夫(BASF)、空客(Airbus)、日产(Nissan)、联合利华(Unilever)、德国电信(Deutsche Telekom)、泰莱(Tate & Lyle)等大型跨国公司。

Analysts warned that this looked likely to scupper the second biggest M&A deal of all time. “This regulation was designed to kill Pfizer-Allergan,” said one big fund manager. Pfizer stood to escape US taxes on more than $128bn of profits stored abroad.

分析师们警告称，美国财政部此举看上去很可能破坏史上第二大并购交易。“这项法规的目的是要阻止辉瑞-艾尔健交易，”一只大基金的经理表示。辉瑞在海外囤积的逾1280亿美元利润本来有望逃避美国税收。