“Taxes are what we pay for civilized society.”
-- Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes

“I find it appalling ­ I think the term “Benedict Arnold” is appropriate”
-­ John Bogle, founder of the Vanguard Group

"In order to usher in ... a culture of responsibility, corporate America must be responsible, must make sure that there are no shenanigans or sleight of hands, must make sure there is an openness and disclosure about true liabilities and true assets. And if they don't, they must be held to account."
­ President George W. Bush

“The activities of tax havens distort the free flow of capital and undermine the ability of governments to finance the legitimate expectations of their citizens for publicly provided goods and services.”
­- Seiichi Kondo, Deputy Secretary-General, OECD

“This is corporate greed.”
-- Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA)

“It is an unpatriotic act that has no place in a country that demands responsibility from all while seeking to promote opportunity for all. Because while these corporations prosper, patriotic taxpayers lose billions out of the federal treasury due to these loopholes. And the system is eroding people's faith and trust in a tax code already riddled with preferences for special interests and corporate welfare.”
-­ Rep. Dick Gephart

“We need to close these loopholes, restore fairness to our markets, increase economic efficiencies and generate revenues for national priorities like Medicare prescription drugs. We need a system that promotes fairness and simplicity for all. We need a bipartisan effort to shut down these unpatriotic offshore shell corporations.”
­- Rep. Dick Gephart

“Corporations should be compelled to pay a fair share of taxes. If corporations shift profits offshore to avoid paying taxes, they should not be permitted to operate in the United States. The decrease in corporate tax responsibility is an indication of the rise of corporate power. “
-- Rep. Dennis Kucinich

“The improvement on earnings is powerful enough that maybe the patriotism issue needs to take a back seat.”
­- Kate Barton, Ernst & Young

“[Incorporating in Bermuda] is a megatrend we are seeing in the marketplace right now.”
-- Kate Barton, an Ernst & Young tax partner

“These fair-weather friends choose to wrap themselves in the flag when it is convenient, and renounce the flag and say they are foreigners and wrap themselves in a tax treaty when it is convenient; we have to put a stop to that.
-- American executives who want to evade U.S. taxes on U.S. income by moving their mailbox to an island and holding beach-side board meetings are entitled to a tan, not a tax break.”
-- Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-TX)

“It is the American taxpayers who get hammered when Stanley Works or one of these other companies heads off to foreign shores and does not pay its fair share of our increased national security needs.”
-- Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D ­ TX)

"Beyond our shareholder concerns, we believe that it is unpatriotic for corporations to place a larger burden on other taxpayers while still benefiting from the stability and privleges this country provides. America's working families pay their taxes, and expect that American corporations will do the same. Simply put, reincorporation is a poor decision and should be reevaluated by all who promote good corporate citizenship and governnance."
-- AFL-CIO testimony to House Ways and Means Committee

“We will be a much poorer city and America a much poorer country as companies move out jobs and machinery, pay less in taxes and take away the jobs that hard-working people without much education used to get their kids in college.”
-­ Mayor Lucian J. Pawlak of New Britain, CT (historical HQ of Stanley Works)

“Offshore reincorporations add risks for shareholders, since we know it could be more difficult to enforce our legal rights there and we’re not sure how protective the Bermuda legislature and courts will be of shareholders.”
-­ Pat Lipton, Executive Director, State of Wisconsin Investment Board

“This is about competitiveness and complications in the tax code that put U.S.-based companies out of step with their foreign competitors.”
-­ U.S. Treasury Secretary O’Neil

“This isn’t about competition; it’s about tax evasion.”
-­ Paul Krugman

“America goes to war against terrorism. America’s fighting men and women are put in harm’s way. American soldiers lose their lives. And American corporations go to Bermuda.”
-­ Rep. George Miller (D-CA)

“If it’s good enough for Tyco and Stanley Tool, why isn’t it good enough for all of you? Why shouldn’t you set up a mailbox in Bermuda or somewhere and avoid your federal income tax? It goes back to basic responsibility.”
-­ Rep. Dick Gephardt (D-MO)

“Small businesses cannot avail themselves of the Bermuda Triangle. They cannot afford the big-name tax lawyers and accountants to show them how to do their books Enron style, but they probably wouldn’t not it anyway, because the small businesspeople in Minnesota do not want to renounce their citizenship. … I simply say that the priority for me, as a Senator, is to go after this 'Bermuda triangle' boondoggle. The priority for me, as a Senator, is to go after these multinational corporations that will not pay their fair share of taxes.”
-­ Senator Paul Wellstone (D-MN)

“Only the little people pay taxes.”
-- Leona Helmsley (reported at her trial for tax evasion)

“Reincorporation in another country like Bermuda is not in the best interests of American shareholders. Corporate CEOs, whose compensation is typically tied to short-term gains in stock price or cash flow, often gain millions in additional pay stemming directly from the tax savings obtained by these moves and will be better able to engage in insider transactions. They are less exposed to shareholder derivative lawsuits and federal securities action. They are shielded from shareholders seeking to hold them accountable for misjudgments or malfeasance. The incentive for corporate officers to make the move to Bermuda is obvious. But it is patently detrimental to the interests of ordinary shareholders, and to the United States, to leave this loophole available for exploitation.”
-­ Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal

“We are registered in Bermuda, and a large part of our assets will be located outside the United States. As a result, our shareholders may not be able to enforce civil liability provisions of the federal or state securities laws of the United States. … Bermuda law differs from the laws in effect in the United States and may afford less protection to shareholders.”
-- PwCC Form S-1, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, May 2, 2002