Pfizer: tax dodger, price gouger

A new report from Americans for Tax Fairness concludes:

“In addition to dodging its fair share of taxes, Pfizer—maker of Celebrex, Lipitor, Lyrica, and Viagra, among many other health-care products—has also been aggressively raising prescription drug prices, thereby straining patients and our health care system and in some cases putting needed medications out of reach.

By dodging taxes while boosting prescription drug prices, Pfizer squeezes American families and communities from two sides at once. In the company’s biggest insult to America yet, Pfizer’s merger will allow it to go on enjoying all the benefits of being based here—everything from a publicly educated workforce to an excellent communications infrastructure to a reliable patent system—without adequately paying to support them.”

The two wealth-extracting techniques go together, very often. This is what modern capitalism is increasingly becoming.

Why doesn’t Pfizer’s leadership focus on what it was originally set up to do: wealth creation? And don’t get us started on shareholder value.