>>While this happens, US gets to pay the highest drug price in the world, subsidizing the world's drug R&D!
The country has lots of alternatives, each with their own set of trade-offs:
- lower the corporate tax rates;
- block inversions in some fashion;
- eliminate or shorten patenting of drugs;
- allow competitive bidding of prices for drugs;
- change the basis on which drugs are approved - safety only;
- adopt a pricing regime like the UK;
etc etc
As long as we allow foreign companies to compete freely in the US, putting US firms at significant competitive disadvantage (by tax policy or otherwise) we will see either US companies invert/leave or the foreign companies progressively take US market share.
Pick your poison.
I often tell business people there are lots of ways to go out of business and far fewer ways to prosper.
ij
PS - Lew's version of economic patriotism is BS. US companies that can on-net advantage their owners by inverting have a duty to do it. Frankly, it is only by doing the inversions that there is any hope that the tax system will be fixed.
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