Mylan: The poster child of what is wrong with the tax code

Richard Phillips for the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy: Rather than being known for its pioneering pharmaceuticals, Mylan is increasingly becoming infamous for its pioneering tax avoidance strategies. In 2015, Mylan used an inversion to claim that it is now based in the Netherlands for tax purposes. It is a Dutch company only on paper because ownership of the company was mostly unchanged, and it continues to operate largely out of the United States. This maneuver has allowed the company to avoid millions in taxes on its earnings in the U.S. and abroad.

But that’s not the end of Mylan’s innovation when it comes to tax planning. … Mylan is using a surprising new technique for dodging taxes: investing in coal refineries.