Google boss Eric Schmidt defended the way his company and others have paid so little tax on such very substantial profits by stating:
All of us are operating in a very, very longstanding tax regime which was set up for various reasons that don’t necessarily make sense to me or anyone else. But they are the way the global tax regime works.
However hard you try, it is difficult to disagree with his point.
It isn’t companies that make the tax laws; it’s the politicians. It therefore seems a little hypocritical for those politicians to be trying to demonise those who take maximum benefit.