Discussions about corporate taxes tend to get derailed quickly. Commentators sometimes confuse profit with turnover and declare that large (but unprofitable) companies “don’t pay taxes”! Others forget that losses from previous years can legitimately be offset by profits from the current year. And politicians regularly denounce this or that naughty company which does not “pay its fair share”. Whatever that means.

Add to that the terms “multinational” or “big tech” and things become even more garish and even less insightful.

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