While critics are blasting the pharmaceutical company Pfizer for entering into a business merger that would allow it to reduce its federal taxes, Business Roundtable said such deals would continue to happen until the U.S. reforms its tax code.

Pfizer recently announced plans to purchase the Dublin-based Allergan for $160 billion. As part of the deal, Pfizer will shift its headquarters to Ireland while maintaining most of its operations in the U.S. The move, known as an inversion, will reduce Pfizer's tax bills given Ireland has a lower corporate tax rate than the U.S.

Presidential candidates Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump all have criticized the move, with Clinton promising to enact measures preventing inversions if she is elected president, according to Reuters news agency. http://reut.rs/1SivKtM

However, BRT President John Engler said the Pfizer merger is only the latest example of a business coming up with a "self-help solution" to survive in the global marketplace. It won't be the last.
"A reformed tax code—which includes modern international tax rules and a corporate rate of 25 percent or lower—can make America a winner in the global marketplace," he said.

Inversions are only one symptom of the nation's broken tax code, Engler said. Acquisitions of U.S. assets by foreign companies remain at an all-time record level.

"Piecemeal regulatory and legislative fixes do not solve the problem," he said. "Temporary approaches fail to address the systemic anti-competitive nature of the U.S. tax system." http://bit.ly/1IeAsmH

CEO Dateline will resume on Monday, Nov. 30.

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