Carnival held their annual shareholders meeting in Miami last week and well, it will be one that Carnival plc. CEO Micky Arison will not forget anytime soon. A Miami version of Occupy Wall Street calling themselves 1Miami, came to protest Carnival plc’s corporate tax structure. Carnival is a registered company in Panama but has their HQ in Miami. This is a perfectly standard structure in the Maritime industry.
Apparently 1Miami has no understanding of the industries they protest.
JOHN HONEYWELL wrote probably the best account of the event:
The more irate the activists became, the more frustrated was Arison. “I’m so insulted by your question that I can’t answer,” he told one. To another, who persisted in alleging Carnival paid only 1 per cent tax, he responded: “Regardless of how many times I say we paid $400m, you’re going to ignore that?’
A woman who wanted to know how much of the company’s taxes funded the Miami Jackson Memorial Hospital, chanted “Pay your fair taxes” over and over, before having the microphone wrestled from her by bouncers.
Arison responded: “How insulting your rant has been,” and then pointed out that children at the hospital are treated in the Carnival Cares for Kids unit.
The activists were eventually ejected from the room at the W hotel in Miami Beach.
photo via Forbes