
Nick Shaxson ■ The political mathematics of tech giants

A + B + C + D + E = F.
Here’s A: US tech giants launch fierce fightback against global tax avoidance crackdown. Reforms “must be resisted.”
Now B: The libertarian Cato Institute, funded by the billionaire industrialist Koch brothers, said it had received support from Google in the form of free web advertising. Among the issues on which this lobby group campaigns is taxation; it expounds the virtues of tax havens and has described the G20-led efforts to reform international tax as a “global tax cartel” plot. The lobbying, the lobbying.
C: The job-killing nature of many technologies.
D: The worries about surveillance.
E: the problem of market monopolies, quasi-monopolies or oligopolies enjoyed by the likes of Amazon or Google, and the ensuing rent-seeking bonanza.
The result of all this?
It’s obviously going to be F. We’ve checked our sums carefully with a calculator here, and they’re quite correct.
Here’s F, via the FT:
“the collapse of trust in technology companies could be “just as big” as it had been for banks.”
Indeed it could. And note that all of A-E have powerful implications for worsening economic or political inequalities.
Is that fierce fightback against “a global tax avoidance crackdown” really such a good idea?
Related articles

Strengthening Africa’s tax governance: reflections on the Lusaka country by country reporting workshop

Do it like a tax haven: deny 24,000 children an education to send 2 to school

Urgent call to action: UN Member States must step up with financial contributions to advance the UN Framework Convention on International Tax Cooperation

Incorporate Gender-Transformative Provisions into the UN Tax Convention
Asset beneficial ownership – Enforcing wealth tax & other positive spillover effects
4 March 2025
The international tax consequences of President Trump
27 February 2025
Negotiating Tax at the United Nations: An introductory factsheet from an EU perspective
18 February 2025

Trump’s walkout fumble is a golden window to push ahead with a UN tax convention
Just Transition and Human Rights: Response to the call for input by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights
13 January 2025
