Halliburton’s decision to move much of its operation and focus from Texas to Dubai ‘is another sign of shifting alignments in the global oil order,’ says the Wall Street Journal. The first question my wife asked when she read the news was, ‘Does this mean Halliburton won’t be paying taxes anymore?’ Time’s national political correspondent, Karen Tumulty, raises the same question — and more. Is this about tax breaks? she asks in a Time blog entitled ‘Swampland’. Getting beyond the reach of congressional subpoenas? And what about all that sensitive information that Halliburton has had access to? At a minimum, reincorporating in Dubai would mean that Halliburton will be paying less taxes to the U.S. Treasury, even as it collects billions from government contracts. Investors ‘appeared mostly unfazed,’ according to the Houston Chronincle, but congressional overseers are none too happy with Hallburton’s announcement. Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., called it ‘an example of corporate greed at its worst.’ ‘This is an insult to the U.S. soldiers and taxpayers who paid the tab for their no-bid contracts and endured their overcharges for all these years … At the same time they’ll be avoiding U.S. taxes, I’m […]