Looking at individual company tax returns is the wrong solution to this problem. It's not just ineffective, it's dishonest. It's tempting to take a "tax the ba

Looking at individual company tax returns is the wrong solution to this problem. It's not just ineffective, it's dishonest. It's tempting to take a "tax the bastards" viewpoint and argue that the tax-avoiding companies are the problem, that they're freeloading, scamming the government. That's the message you get from the presidential candidates. But that argument wilfully ignores the most important fact: tax incentives are the way the government pays people and companies to change their behavior. The incentive says the government will pay you $X if you do some specific thing. Install solar panels, cut carbon emissions, employ members of a vulnerable population. There are thousands of options. They use the tax process to distribute the rewards because it's simpler and cheaper that way. Low-tax companies are just the ones who operate in spaces with a lot of these incentives. Identifying the companies isn't relevant, the companies aren't the problem. You want to instead identify the incentives that are eating up your revenue. How much does your solar panel incentive cost? That kind of thing. And before you ask: Yes, offshore income arrangement are another tax incentive. They're more complicated beause they involve several countries competing on tax rates, but it's just another version of the same problem.