美國政府 將阻止企業"移居海外"
Billions of dollars were wiped off the value of European healthcare companies yesterday after the Obama administration threatened action to halt the wave of transatlantic acquisitions by American companies seeking to cut their US tax bills.
歐洲醫療企業的市值昨日蒸發數十億美元，此前奧巴馬政府威脅稱，將採取措施，遏止美國企業以降低美國稅賦爲目的的跨大西洋併購浪潮。The sharp fall in several UK, Swiss and Irish companies reflected investor fears that a driving force behind this year’s surge of cross-border dealmaking in the healthcare sector could be brought to a halt by US political intervention.
幾家英國、瑞士以及愛爾蘭公司的股價大幅下挫，這反映出投資者擔心，推動今年醫療行業跨境交易飆升的力量可能會因美國的政治干預戛然而止。
Shares in Walgreens, the US pharmacy chain, were also hit after it confirmed it would pass up an opportunity to move its tax home to Switzerland, in another sign that the time for so-called tax inversions could be drawing to a close.
美國藥房連鎖沃爾格林(Walgreens)的股價也受到影響，此前該公司證實，將放棄將其稅收註冊地遷往瑞士的機會，這一跡象再次表明，所謂的“稅收倒置”(tax inversion)時代可能正在走向尾聲。
Walgreens announced a well-trailed £9bn deal to acquire full control of Switzerland-based Alliance Boots – but without an inversion that could have saved it billions of dollars in taxes.
沃爾格林宣佈了一筆受到密切追蹤的90億英鎊的交易，將購入總部位於瑞士的聯合博姿(Alliance Boots)的全部股權，但不會將稅收註冊地遷往瑞士，此舉本可以令該公司減少數十億美元的稅賦。The decision followed a warning from the US Treasury that it was “reviewing a broad range of authorities for possible administrative action” to deter companies from using cross-border deals to escape US taxes.
在沃爾格林做出這一決定前，美國財政部警告稱，正“就各種可能的行政舉措的權限進行評估”，以阻止企業利用跨境交易逃避美國稅收。Lawmakers in Congress who have led attacks on inversion deals welcomed the decision by Walgreens to remain US-based. But congressional staff said the U-turn did not signal victory in the broader fight against inversions and vowed that work would continue on legislation to curb them.
率先抨擊稅收倒置交易的美國國會議員，對於沃爾格林選擇把總部留在美國的決定表示歡迎。但國會工作人員表示，沃爾格林的回心轉意並不標誌着對稅收倒置行爲的總體打擊取得了勝利，他們誓言將繼續致力於通過立法來遏制這種行爲。Political heat has been building for weeks against the inversion trend, with president Barack Obama last month criticising “corporate deserters” who had “renounced their US citizenship” by moving offshore.
數週來，反對稅收倒置趨勢的政治熱度一直在升溫，美國總統巴拉克•奧巴馬(Barack Obama)上月對“企業逃兵”進行了批評，他表示，這些企業將總部遷往海外，“放棄了自己的美國公民身份”。
