Even a company that named its top beer after a hero of the American Revolution may eventually forsake its home country. Boston Beer Co., the maker of Samuel Adams beer and Angry Orchard hard cider, would be worth more to a foreign owner unburdened by the U.S. tax structure, founder Jim Koch told a Senate committee on Thursday. Because of that, Koch says he regularly gets pitches from investment bankers looking to strike a sale. He's been turning them down -- for now.

"We don't mind paying our taxes here in the U.S. in gratitude for the opportunities that exist in this country and that I certainly have enjoyed -- but don't mistake that for good financial decision making," Koch said to the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. "Because of our broken corporate tax system, I can honestly predict that I will likely be the last American owner of Boston Beer Company."

America taxes its companies at the highest rate in the industrialized world. Executives like Koch say that puts corporations at a disadvantage to foreign rivals who can spend more for acquisitions and keep more of their earnings.

-- Bloomberg News.