On the campaign trail, Hillary Clinton describes automotive parts manufacturer Johnson Controls as a villain that took American subsidies but that is trying to escape taxes by leaving the country, pledging it will “pay a price” if she is elected president. However, Bill Clinton on Monday called it one of his “favorite companies,” albeit one that had come under the control of “activist shareholders.”
“By the way, one of my favorite companies: Johnson Controls,” the former president said during a campaign stop in North Carolina. “It’s a clean energy company that worked with our foundation to retrofit the Empire State Building, we cut the electric usw in that old building by 40 percent, [and] created 275 full-time jobs for two and a half years doing it.”
Clinton was describing work that the company performed with the couple’s non-profit Clinton Foundation, to which it has contributed about a quarter-million in membership dues since 2009. Yet in spite of the connection, it has served as a high-profile target for Hillary Clinton, who has argued the company is trying to avoid American taxes by moving overseas even though it received federal funds through the federal government’s 2008 bailout of the auto industry.
“Car parts companies like them begged taxpayers for a bailout, and they got one,” the candidate said in a February campaign ad. “But now that Johnson is back on its feet, they’re gaming the system and moving profits to Ireland so they can avoid paying taxes here at home.”
“It’s an outrage,” Hillary concludes in the ad. “If I’m president, when companies walk out on America, they’ll pay a price.”
Johnson has denied receiving any funding connected to the auto bailout, though it has received tax breaks from some states, like Michigan, and some federal grant money to speed production of environmentally-friendly products. It announced plans to relocate in Ireland in January, a move the company estimates will save around $150 million in taxes annually.
Nonetheless, Bill Clinton said on Monday, he didn’t see any reason to regret past bailouts. Instead, he argued, the blame for any wrongdoing fell squarely on shareholders.
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“Congress helped them, and they should have… But then, as soon as they got well, they got under the influence of these activist shareholders who made them pretend to sell themselves to a company in Northern Ireland where they could pay a third of the taxes,” Clinton concluded. “I think if we help somebody, and they bolt on us, they should pay an exit fee.”
