Re: International norms
"Wouldn't ANYONE who COULD do this, do this?"
I don't disagree that companies practicing avoidance are right to act in their own self-interest. What really sticks in the craw is that they spend millions to hire lobbyists, buy friendly politicians and fund supposedly 'independant' think thanks to come up with tax laws that are designed by themselves to be full of loopholes, which they then proceed to exploit. Then when challenged on the avoidance they go, with a straight face "Just following the laws", when they know full well the laws are designed that way because THEY designed them.
"make it so EVERYONE can benefit by lowering tax rates across the board"
In my opinion this is a great solution. The current system is designed so that to benefit from tax law loopholes you need to have a presence in multiple countries, including many offshore ones, AND be able to fund an army of tax lawyers. In other words only the biggest multinational corporations and the richest individuals have access to the lowest tax rates. The way to allow EVERYONE to benefit is to cut down on the loopholes that only the rich benefit from, then you could cut rates across the board.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
