Is it too late or can something be done?

[The Spartan]

There's really only two answers: 1. ban multinational companies, or 2. get rid of corporation tax.

I doubt they'd even think of banning multinationals, on the point of abolishing corporation tax what the benefits of this and how would they raise the money they would lose that was previously generated by it?

[VectraMan]

I doubt they'd even think of banning multinationals, on the point of abolishing corporation tax what the benefits of this and how would they raise the money they would lose that was previously generated by it?

Well, to pick those tax avoiding contractor scum as an example, they pay 20% CT on company profits, and then the rest of dividends. Dividends are subject to income tax, but at a heavily discounted rate to allow for the tax already paid. Get rid of CT, and tax dividends the same as normal income, and there'd be no loss of revenue and you'd have saved a lot of paperwork and hassle for small business to boot.

[Scoobos]

What's profit made in the UK? If a company makes a million pounds worth of sales in the UK, but spends a million pounds on employees' salaries in Ireland, it's made zero profit overall. But you'd still make it pay £300K in UK corporation tax?

I'd say thats quite different to what we've seen with these big names, its more farming the profit off as investments in foreign arms of the business.

The UK business hires staff in Ireland, fine - but buying a new arm in another country (or pretending to) should require the costs to be appropriated to the new company in that country.

Maybe I'm being daft, but this seems workable.

[VectraMan]

I'd say thats quite different to what we've seen with these big names, its more farming the profit off as investments in foreign arms of the business.

The UK business hires staff in Ireland, fine - but buying a new arm in another country (or pretending to) should require the costs to be appropriated to the new company in that country.

Maybe I'm being daft, but this seems workable.

You're being daft. Why can't a multinational use money it makes in one country to invest in another? You're basically saying a multinational company isn't allowed to operate as one company, which amounts to banning multinational companies.

[KentPhilip]

I'm not arguing the general point, but bermuda is NOT wealthy nor tax free.

...

Bermuda Cost of Living Guide

That link's first line says: "The World Bank rates Bermuda as the most affluent country in the world, by far"

And just because a place has a high cost of living does not mean that is not wealthy. As you stated a major part of the high cost of living is its geographical remoteness. By having a low/zero corporation tax in the UK, the country could attract more big business and benefit in the same way as Bermuda, but without the geographical problems.

[AtW]

You're being daft. Why can't a multinational use money it makes in one country to invest in another?

They can invest money after they paid tax on profits - same is for every other business who isn't multinational.