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President Barack Obama said Thursday that American companies performing tax "inversions" are not doing right by their country. Obama said that these companies, which buy foreign firms to technically change their tax domicile to a country with a lower tax rate, benefit from America's university system and infrastructure, but then turn around and "game the system." He told CNBC exclusively that, despite the legality of this corporate practice, inversions are not fair. "You are an American company. You continue to benefit in all kinds of ways from being an American company," the president said. "It is true that there are a lot of things that may be legal that probably aren't the right thing to do by the country."

"There are a whole range of benefits that have helped to build companies, create value, create profits," he added. "For you to continue to benefit from that entire architecture that helps you thrive, but move your technical address simply to avoid paying taxes, is neither fair, nor is it something that's going to be good for the country over the long term."

Obama also said that "now is the time" for his administration to tackle corporate tax reform. Blaming Congress for being "just not real productive," the president said the White House has submitted "very specific proposals" toward passing corporate tax reforms, but that time is of the essence. "Invariably it takes some time to work through a big tax reform piece of legislation," Obama said, citing President Ronald Reagan's 1½-year process for a similar bill. "So now is the time for us to get started, and I think that people should expect that this administration will be four-square behind it."