PPI - Radically Pragmatic
  • Donate
Skip to content
  • Home
  • About
    • About Us
    • Locations
    • Careers
  • People
  • Projects
  • Our Work
  • Events
  • Donate

Our Work

The Blame Game: Multinational Taxation in an Era of Knowledge

  • May 18, 2015
  • Michael Mandel
Download PDF

U.S.-based companies such as Google, McDonalds, Starbucks, Apple, and Mi-crosoft are being attacked by European politicians for not paying their fair share of taxes. For example, in March 2014 Google was hit by a French tax assessment of perhaps as much as a billion euros according to press reports at the time. In November 2014, U.K. lawmakers accused Google, Amazon, and Starbucks of us-ing convoluted accounting methods to reduce their tax liabilities.

Indeed, the feeling that U.S. multinationals—especially digital giants—are ‘getting away with something’ has fueled a concerted effort by developed countries to re-write the global tax system. This so-called BEPS project (for Base Erosion and Profit Shifting), organized by the OECD, is in the process of issuing a series of guidelines for how countries can revamp their tax codes to best capture “stateless income.”

However, these accusations of tax avoidance are, in reality, not as clear-cut as they seem. Certainly some companies are taking advantage of legal but blatant loopholes that make no economic sense. Eliminating such loopholes is an im-portant part of the BEPS project that we support.

Download “2015.05-Mandel-Weinstein-OByrne_The-Blame-Game-Multinational-Taxation-in-an-Era-of-Knowledge”

Related Work

Press Release  |  September 18, 2025

Amazon, Alphabet, Meta, and Microsoft Lead $403 Billion Surge in U.S. Investment, PPI Finds

  • Michael Mandel Andrew Fung
Feature  |  September 18, 2025

Jacoby for Washington Monthly: Downing Russian Drones: “The U.S. and Europe Should Learn From Us”

  • Tamar Jacoby
Op-Ed  |  September 18, 2025

Weinstein Jr. for Forbes: Fed Dot Plot Highlights Wide Disparity Of Views On Future Rate Cuts

  • Paul Weinstein Jr.
Publication  |  September 18, 2025

Investment Heroes 2025: The Shape of the AI-Enabled Economy

  • Michael Mandel Andrew Fung
Op-Ed  |  September 11, 2025

Ritz for Forbes: Thanks To Trump, Adult Content Creators Could Pay Lower Taxes Than You

  • Ben Ritz
Press Release  |  September 10, 2025

PPI Report Finds That Socioeconomic Impact of Legalized Sports Betting is Less Harmful Than Feared

  • Michael Mandel
  • Never miss an update:

  • Subscribe to our newsletter
PPI Logo
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Facebook
  • Donate
  • Careers
  • © 2025 Progressive Policy Institute. All Rights Reserved.
  • |
  • Privacy Policy
  • |
  • Privacy Settings