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* From an e-mail…
Dear Speaker Madigan,
Dear Republican Leader Durkin,
I have the honor to write with regards to House Bill 3419, sponsored by the Honorable Representatives Jaime M. Andrade Jr, Christian L. Mitchell and Katie Stuart.
The bill seeks to bar “expatriate corporations” from participating in Illinois’ procurement markets and would further bar Illinois public investment into such corporations. One of the criterions used in order to identify so-called “expatriate corporations” is that a business re-incorporated itself in a tax haven jurisdiction. The proposed legislation includes Luxembourg on the list of these alleged tax havens.
Please find attached a letter by H.E. Sylvie Lucas, Ambassador of Luxembourg to the United States, which specifies how 1) Designating Luxembourg as a tax haven is factually incorrect; 2) Luxembourg has not been a destination for Illinois headquartered corporate-expatriations; and 3) How the proposed policy would violate the State of Illinois’ WTO commitments, and which we have sent also to all members of the Illinois House of Representatives.
Please feel free to contact the Embassy if you have any further questions or concerns.
Yours sincerely
Michael Fischer
Senior Advisor
GRAND DUCHY OF LUXEMBOURG
Embassy of Luxembourg to the United States
The full letter is here.
* By the way, they sent Speaker Madigan an e-mail, but they may have been surprised when the e-mail address they used bounced back - as it did when I tried it because Madigan doesn’t use such things…
“Madigan hated e-mails. He wouldn’t have wifi in his house. He used to get all his e-mails second hand, then you’d have to e-mail the people back from a smart phone. There were guys, that’s all they did all day long was take care of Madigan’s e-mails.”
posted by Rich Miller
Thursday, Mar 23, 17 @ 12:28 pm
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” “Madigan hated e-mails. He wouldn’t have wifi in his house. He used to get all his e-mails second hand, then you’d have to e-mail the people back from a smart phone. There were guys, that’s all they did all day long was take care of Madigan’s e-mails.” ”
Well done sir, well done!
Comment by Anyone Remember Thursday, Mar 23, 17 @ 12:32 pm
On second thought, it should’ve been “then you’d have to e-mail the people back from an AOL account on a dial-up modem at the Berwyn Public Library.”
lol
Comment by Rich Miller Thursday, Mar 23, 17 @ 12:35 pm
Madigan hated e-mails. He wouldn’t have wifi in his house. He used to get all his e-mails second hand, then you’d have to e-mail the people back from a smart phone. There were guys, that’s all they did all day long was take care of Madigan’s e-mails.”
Sounds like a scene out of goodfellows…
Comment by Foster brooks Thursday, Mar 23, 17 @ 12:43 pm
first Goodfellas reference in what feels like a longgg time. thank you sir.
Comment by baloneymous Thursday, Mar 23, 17 @ 12:44 pm
Madigan, and the Ardennes Forest Grand Duchies that he controls.
Did I see a tweet yesterday from the Illinois House Democrats? Is that new?
Comment by wordslinger Thursday, Mar 23, 17 @ 12:46 pm
1) Luxembourg is a tax-haven, no matter what Luxembourg says
2) They are correct that it isn’t the top country in Europe for corporate-expatriations (that would be either Netherlands or Ireland)
3) The proposed policy would not violate WTO rules. It doesn’t exclude Luxembourg companies from competing. It only excludes Luxembourg companies that have a minimal presence in Luxembourg and use Luxembourg as a tax haven, which it is.
Comment by Chicagonk Thursday, Mar 23, 17 @ 12:51 pm
These Luxers will rue the day they picked a fight with Illinois. Rue the day, sir!
Comment by The Captain Thursday, Mar 23, 17 @ 12:55 pm
Rich,
Very well played. The later editing only added to the genius.
To the post,
You know what they say… you lose Luxembourg… You lose the Caucus.
Comment by Oswego Willy Thursday, Mar 23, 17 @ 12:58 pm
Luxembourg is a founding member of the EU, NATO, OECD, Benelux and the UN, and is one of the EU’s three capitals. but with this bill their expat corporations couldn’t do state contracts. ok fine.
the state have a trade office in Brussels, Belgium also a Benelux member. the Netherlands, also Benelux, is considered a semi tax haven. maybe we should move trade office to London. the UK’s overseas territories such as Bermuda, Cayman Islands and British VI are not on that house bill list are they? oh wait…
Comment by baloneymous Thursday, Mar 23, 17 @ 1:10 pm
You do not want to tick off Henri, Grand Duke of Luxembourg, Duke of Limburg, of the Grand Dutchy of Luxembourg, of House Luxembourg, father of dragons.
Comment by Just Observing Thursday, Mar 23, 17 @ 1:23 pm
Chicagonk - I agree with what you say about Ireland and the Netherlands, but guess which two countries are NOT on the list…
Comment by My button is broke... Thursday, Mar 23, 17 @ 1:30 pm
If John Podesta and HRC were more like Mike Madigan we might have a different president today… just sayin’.
Comment by James Knell Thursday, Mar 23, 17 @ 1:36 pm
Kudos Rich, never too many Goodfellas quotes for Illinois politics
Comment by frisbee Thursday, Mar 23, 17 @ 1:41 pm
Just had a thought–maybe the Illinois Democratic Party actually has been doing some effective messaging–has anyone checked their telegraph lately?
Comment by Earnest Thursday, Mar 23, 17 @ 1:43 pm
The invaders from Luxembourg are sighted by a Capitol security guard and are immediately taken to be “men from Mars” when their mail armor is mistaken for reptilian skin. The Governor of Illinois pieces together what has happened (with help from the five lines in his encyclopedia on Luxembourg and the WTO and he is both ashamed and astonished that Illinois was unaware that it had been at war for two years. The Governor quickly surrenders and confidently expects to rebuild Illinois through the largesse that Countries bestow on their vanquished enemies.
Comment by Anonymous Thursday, Mar 23, 17 @ 2:01 pm
- My button is broke… -
True, but bottom of page 31 of the bill allows the Dep. of Revenue to add any country via administrative rules.
Comment by Sheesh Thursday, Mar 23, 17 @ 2:02 pm
Does the State of Illinois participate in individual agreements at the WTO? I thought it was USA as a county and if a State implemented a policy that violated the WTO agreements the Feds would come down on the State…
Anyone know?
Comment by BK Bro Thursday, Mar 23, 17 @ 2:17 pm
We will be OK as long as the Duchy of Grand Fenwick is not mad at us.
Comment by Bigtwich Thursday, Mar 23, 17 @ 2:49 pm
Bravo on the Goodfellas reference.
Comment by Bill F. Thursday, Mar 23, 17 @ 2:57 pm
As long as we don’t tick off Gran Fenwick and start a war.
Comment by Whatever Thursday, Mar 23, 17 @ 3:00 pm
Does Google Translate have Luxembourgish?
Comment by Lottie O'Neill Thursday, Mar 23, 17 @ 3:04 pm
Wait, are they closing Old Lux?
Comment by JD Thursday, Mar 23, 17 @ 3:22 pm
Whatever -
Tip ‘o’ cap to you, sir!
Comment by Anyone Remember Thursday, Mar 23, 17 @ 3:53 pm
Probably a good idea for the GA to steer clear of foreign relations — that goes for Turkey and Taiwan too. Just sayin.
Comment by walker Thursday, Mar 23, 17 @ 4:26 pm
–the state have a trade office in Brussels,–
Yeah, those DCEO and IBOT international office gigs are sweet.
When’s the last time you saw an ROI on one of those?
Comment by wordslinger Thursday, Mar 23, 17 @ 5:22 pm
Lots of businesses incorporate in a specific location due to taxes and other regulations. Here in the States, Delaware is a very popular place to incorporate.
I believe that Berkshire-Hathaway (mailing address Omaha) is incorporated in Delaware. I believe the Chicago Bears are incorporated in Delaware.
Perhaps Delaware should be added to the list of “tax havens” and the Bears added to the list of “expatriate corporations.”
Comment by Late to the Party Friday, Mar 24, 17 @ 6:43 am
Late to the Party — For Illinois income tax purposes, incorporating in Delaware doesn’t mean much. However, it does for some states and some of the tax havens listed in the bill and some of our friends in the EU have argued that Delaware fits the definition of tax haven that other states have adopted.
Comment by Whatever Friday, Mar 24, 17 @ 8:44 am