BUSINESS // TAXATION // WHEN, AS A SOCIETY

Solving The Corporation Tax Problem

Or… Answering the question of “When, as a society, did we decide that corporations should be able to pay so little tax?”

I am neither a tax lawyer, nor a tax professional, but I am a citizen in society, and I detest the thought that we allow injustice to carry on in society with no consequence.

Here is a proposal.

Photo by Matteo Catanese on Unsplash

The Problem

Companies don’t pay their fair share of tax, and this has been brought into sharp focus over the last decade or so —two simple, but well-known stories revolve around the

• double Irish Dutch “sandwich” structures used by some multinationals to circumvent tax laws, and
• the Panama papers

As an individual contributor to society through my taxes, this annoys me. I don’t get afforded the same tax structures that companies do, I don’t get to avoid tax. (And if I do, I could go to jail — if companies are found guilty of this — they get a fine and get to carry on).

• In Australia, almost 800 large companies paid no tax in 2020–21 (or about 32% of large companies)
• In America, more than 50…