I’ve been happy with my friendly local Walgreens. It’s near-by, I get some good deals on their sales, and the people there are friendly. Now I learn that they’re taking their Medicare/Medicaid earnings (masking up 1/4 of their income) and my dollars and fleeing the scene. They’re one of the latest companies to take advantage of “tax inversion.” That is, they’ll not touch our familiar Walgreens stores but move their corporate headquarters to a tax-haven, a place that allows them to avoid paying U.S. tax on the U.S. money we gave them. It’s a nice little loophole for them and other corporations, but it cheats our economy out of funds that pay for our government, military, health, safety, and safety nets.
Read more in the Chicago Sun-Times article “Walgreens: The tax-dodger on the corner.”
If this bothers you, inform Walgreens CEO and President Gregory Wassen. Sign the petition at the Credo Mobilize site. If enough Walgreens custormers let him know of our disapproval, he may very well calculate how many customers–and how much financial loss–he’ll face and decide to do the right thing.