With Burger King's acquisition of Tim Hortons now ostensibly defining the debate over tax "inversions," some journalists are finding it hard to resist wordplay about hamburgers and donuts or to eschew misleading rhetoric about "loopholes" or "dodging taxes." Thankfully, we have Washington Post columnist Charles Krauthammer to get to the point in today's "Lower corporate tax rates. Now."

What is maddening is that the problem is so easily solved: tax reform that lowers the accursed corporate rate. Democrats and Republicans agree on this. After the announcement of the latest inversion, Burger King buying Tim Hortons and then moving to Canada, the president himself issued a statement conceding that corporate tax reform — lower the rates, eliminate loopholes — is the best solution to the inversion problem.

It’s also politically doable. Tax reform has unique bipartisan appeal. Conservatives like it because lowering rates stimulates the economy and eliminating loopholes curbs tax-driven economic decisions that grossly misallocate capital.

The appeal to liberals is economic fairness. 

Journalist and historian Amity Shlaes -- recommended, her "Coolidge" -- offers an insightful compare and contrast on Canadian versus U.S. tax and economic policy at National Review Online, "On Taxes, Look to Canada":

Competitiveness meant competitive tax rates — all kinds of tax rates. In 2006, a new Conservative government, led by Stephen Harper and finance minister Jim Flaherty, made taxes the centerpiece of its program: “Taxes will go down for all Canadians,” Flaherty said. At that point Canada taxed capital gains heavily, though even then its capital-gains rules did not punish short-term trades, as we do in the States. But in this period, revenues did not flow as the government hoped. So the government cut the capital-gains rate down to an effective 14.5 percent, below the U.S. rate of 15 percent.

Canada also cut taxes that might affect foreigners, such as corporate taxes. In the early 2000s, some levies on taxes on corporate capital at both the federal and the provincial levels were eliminated. In 2012, Canada dropped its federal corporate rate to 15 percent from 16.5 percent, the final step in a series of cuts from a 29.1 percent rate in 2000. That federal rate was so low that, even taken together with provincial rates, the Canadian total was more inviting than the United States total.

Shlaes examines national leadership in both countries and then makes a key point, one that reinforces Business Roundtable's consistent arguments not only on taxes but a broad range of policy issues, e.g., fiscal stability, immigration, regulation, energy. (See "Invested in America: A Growth Agenda for the U.S. Economy.")

Another feature at work was Canada’s awareness that nations have to compete to draw business. Such awareness is simply lacking in the United States. The fact that the world runs to us (buys our bonds) when the U.S. is in trouble has reinforced our provincialism. The fact that the Chinese government does so, for its own reasons, also supports our national illusions. But tax inversions reveal what the bond prices do not: U.S. tax rates are too high. Our system of worldwide taxation, taxing companies wherever they work, causes them to shift to nations like Canada, which taxes companies only for their Canadian activity.

Shlaes also points us to a 2014 KPMG report that should be must reading for anyone commenting on the Burger King/Tim Horton's deal or "inversions" in general, "Competitive Alternatives -- KPMG's Guide to International Business Location Costs" and its country-specific analysis of Canada and its tax environment. Key findings:

• For the second time, Canada ranked first among the 10 countries compared, with total tax costs 46.4% lower than the US
• Total Tax Index (TTI) rankings of countries in 2014 are broadly consistent with 2012 rankings – the UK moved ahead of Mexico, and Australia ahead of Germany
• Japan, Italy and France have seen significant improvements in their TTI scores
• Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal are the most tax competitive among 51 major international cities.

The United States ranked fifth.

Very good graphic.