The Halliburton move

By Michael J.W. Stickings

So Halliburton is planning on moving its corporate headquarters (and its CEO, Dave Lesar) from Texas to Dubai. Interesting.

At the announcement yesterday, Lesar claimed that the move would "bring more balance to Halliburton's overall portfolio," allowing it to expand its operations throughout the Middle East, but, needless to say, questions arise, not least with respect to taxes. As one lobbyist put it: "If there's a huge tax shift, then it's taking money from U.S. taxpayers while they're taking no-bid contracts." It may make good business sense to move overseas, but, given the company's image and reputation as a Cheney-friendly war profiteer, this doesn't look good at all.

Some of the company's critics are not amused -- and rightly so. For example, Sen. Leahy: "This is an insult to the U.S. soldiers and taxpayers who paid the tab for their no-bid contracts and endured their overcharges for all these years. At the same time they'll be avoiding U.S. taxes, I'm sure they won't stop insisting on taking their profits in cold hard U.S. cash."

And here's Time's Karen Tumulty, at Swampland, who asks the right questions: "Is this about tax breaks? Getting beyond the reach of congressional subpoenas? And what about all that sensitive information that Halliburton has had access to? At a minimum, reincorporating in Dubai would mean that Halliburton will be paying less taxes to the U.S. Treasury, even as it collects billions from government contracts." Halliburton may not reincorporate, but it looks like the House will investigate.

The whole thing stinks.