Mailbox companies at the Zuidas, Amsterdam, NetherlandsPhoto: SOMO

Governments need tax revenue to provide public goods and services like education, health care and infrastructure. Large corporations, like citizens, benefit from these goods and services. But many avoid paying their fair share of taxes.

Corporate tax avoidance shifts the tax burden to workers, consumers and small companies, contributing to global economic inequality and stunting economic and social development.

Governments like the Netherlands deprive developing countries of sorely-needed tax revenue by facilitating tax avoidance through mailbox companies. More and more countries compete for the most appealing system of corporate tax-dodging. It’s a system that privatises gains while socialising losses.

SOMO exposes the aggressive tax avoidance strategies of companies, and the impacts of tax avoidance on human rights and public interests. We examine the international and national tax regimes that facilitate corporate tax avoidance, with special attention to the role of the Netherlands as a leading tax haven.

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