UPDATE: Burger King Denies Trying To Duck U.S. Taxes

Burger King officially announced yesterday that it's merging with Canadian doughnut chain Tim Hortons, but denied in response to angry accusations and calls for boycotts that it's trying to duck U.S. taxes by reincorporating in lower-tax-rate Canada.

The new company will be headquartered in Canada, but each brand will be managed independently, with Burger King keeping its U.S. offices in Miami. Burger King CEO Daniel Schwartz said in a conference call, "We are going to continue to pay U.S. taxes as we have been doing." He said that the corporate tax rate paid by Tim Hortons in Canada is in the mid-20s in terms of percentage and that what he called Burger King's "blended" tax rate it pays globally, including U.S. taxes, is also in the mid-20s, stating, "So when we look at the combined company we don't expect there to be meaningful lower or higher tax rates than we had before."