Re: See the needfor US tax reform
But the reason the EU is sticking t's beak in is that the US also allows corporations to defer paying taxes until..... well, until they feel like it.
Since there have been previous tax holidays, allowing corps to pay their deferred taxes at a lower rate, then "proper tax planning" means the corps will hold of paying tax until they can get the maximum discount.
The EU feels that this is bollocks, and that taxes should be paid relatively promptly, based on where the profits are booked. They have called out the US Treasury department on this issue, and as rightly observed, any tax paid outside of the US will count as a tax credit for the US profits.
It's also cheaper to pay lawyers to string this out, while sitting on a big arse pile of cash. Hell, the interest alone is probably covering lawyer fees and associated bribes.
I'm not quite sure how various Irish/Dutch/Luxembourg tax laws have survived so long, since they are clearly being used to avoid taxes. It's all well and good that double taxation is avoided, but it's (relatively) simple to claim that back, but if your laws designed to avoid double tax result in no tax, then it's clearly taking the piss.
Combined with some spectacularly lax oversight of the arrangement by the Irish, such as having billions be transferred to a company that isn't actually based in *any* country, it's been clear for 20+ years that Ireland has been bending over backwards to accommodate this arrangement. No idea why either, since it's not like Ireland makes very much on this arrangement.
As for playing bullshit with tax for personal reasons, my understanding is that with a trust* or two in play, and making loans that are never paid back, it's possible for Jo Public to pretty much avoid taxes too.
I think the only way actual tax reform would occur is if the majority of taxpayers (ie people with incomes from selling their labor) starting doing the same tricks as the major wealth holders. Once every man and his dog has a personal and family trust set up, and an offshore stash pot, then the abuses by the big players might get addressed. More likely is that the rules on wages/salary will be re-interpreted, and some new form of trust will be created, to ensure that nasty things like NI, income tax and death duties are paid by the plebs, not the "proper" types who run this joint.
* trusts usually pay some tax, AFAIK 10% every 10 years, or a bit less than 1% pa.