This is a really interesting story that is thankfully gaining attention. Halliburton announced this weekend that they will be moving their corporate headquarters from Houston, Texas to Dubai. There are a lot of questions surrounding this move – the biggest on their taxes. Halliburton generates a large portion of their income from U.S. contracts and will now pay far less taxes to the U.S. Our new Democratic Congress does not seem very happy about it either:

Time’s Karen Tumulty comments on Halliburton’s plan to move its headquarters from Houston to Dubai: “Is this about tax breaks? 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.” She also reports, “Henry Waxman is already planning to hold a hearing on this, an aide tells me.” 

Patrick Leahy has also been vocal on this move:

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT) told ABC News it was “an insult to the U.S. soldiers and taxpayers.”

There should be great concern with this move. Halliburton does a lot of support work for our troops. Should we let this work be handled by a company located in Dubai? This has the same stink on it that the ports deal had.

This also provides a great opening for Congress to look further into Halliburton. Their alleged contact fraud needs heavy scrutiny and a close eye, but even more importantly Congress needs to look at what influence Cheney has had with Halliburton’s contracts and the money he has made off the war because of this stock options. Hopefully Waxman will start the ball rolling with his hearings. He is a very thorough investigator on this stuff and the right man for the job.