In his weekly address on Saturday, July 26, 2014, President Obama criticized large corporations that employ tax inversion strategies saying, “They’re keeping most of their business inside the United States, but they’re basically renouncing their citizenship and declaring that they’re based somewhere else, just to avoid paying their fair share.”
He argued that businesses that “cherrypick their taxes,” because of current loopholes in U.S. tax policy, are responsible for damaging the nation’s economy at large. President Obama went on to characterize tax inversions as “unpatriotic.” This speech launched the Obama administration’s campaign against Big Business ahead of the 2014 midterm elections, and caused a stir in the business community. The problem with the President’s criticism of tax inversions is that it allows him to vilify American corporations rather than focus on the nation’s overwhelming need for tax reform.
via Patriotism and Corporate Responsibility: The Politics of the Tax Inversion Controversy.