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Comment by zach | Hacker News Reader

Wait until you hear about 2711 Centerville Road, Wilmington, Delaware.

Such shady entities registered there include "Level 3 Communications", "California Pizza Kitchen", "The Walt Disney Company", "Dole Food" and "Qualcomm".

Seriously, all those companies are Delaware corporations who maintain their registered office at that address, despite the fact that their CEO has probably never visited that address in their lives.

This is such a common occurrence that it hardly merits notice. Even if you throw in the observation that dubious businesses favor incorporation in Wyoming (which has no corporate income tax, franchise tax or tax on corporate shares), that's still not saying much.

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There's a nice golf course right behind that address. I imagine quite a few CEOs have stopped by.

If you think that's bad, several major 'USA' companies are lobbying USA congress for a tax break as an incentive to return money back to USA from tax havens [0].

[0] http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-06-28/biggest-tax-avoider...

Why should the U.S. tax capital, earned outside of the U.S., when it is invested back in America?

In fact, since repatriated capital will be deployed inside the US, likely to produce more profits which can then be taxed... taxing repatriated money is a drag on the economy and reduces future tax income. (I don't know if the effect is large or small, but I think it is large.)

The current proposals don't require the money be invested in America. Most of it will likely be paid out to shareholders as dividends. The article the parent links to provides more discussion.

I'll be registering my company in Delaware. Why the hell wouldn't I?

Because if you don't live in DE, it can be a pain if legal action ever comes up. I've read that the "home court advantage" is very real.

Also, people often establish companies in tax-free states thinking that they'll avoid taxation. But nexus will bite you. By living in a state, or doing work in a state beyond sales, you establish nexus and are responsible for state income tax.

Why Delaware over the state you are in? (Assuming you aren't actually in Delaware).

They have a different legal system (a court of chancery) that businesses prefer when resolving disputes. See "Delaware Court of Chancery" on Wikipedia.

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