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How can we tax footloose multinationals?

The international community is at long last recognising that something is wrong with the current framework of taxation

How can we tax footloose multinationals?
Photo: Getty Images

In the last few years, globalisation has come under renewed attack. Some of the criticisms may be misplaced, but one is spot on: globalisation has enabled large multinationals, like Apple, Google and Starbucks, to avoid paying tax.

Apple has become the poster child for corporate tax avoidance, with its legal claim that a few hundred
people working in Ireland were the real source of its profits, and then striking a deal with that country’s government that resulted in its paying a tax amounting to .005% of its profit.

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