How can we tax footloose multinationals?

NEW YORK: In the last few years, globalisation has come under renewed attack. Some of the criticisms may be misplaced, but one is spot on: globalisation has enabled large multinationals, like Apple, Google, and Starbucks, to avoid paying tax.

Apple has become the poster child for corporate tax avoidance, with its legal claim that a few hundred people working in Ireland were the real source of its profits, and then striking a deal with that country’s government that resulted in its paying a tax amounting to .005% of its profit.