The difficulties of combatting tax avoidance practices of multinationals by means of legislation at European and international level

Abstract

Nowadays, the various tax avoidance techniques used by multinational companies pose a serious challenge to states, as they lose significant budget revenues. It is no coincidence that after the global economic crisis of 2008-2009, ideas came to the forefront that seek to solve this problem through legislation both at EU and international level. In this respect, however, although there is agreement in principle between countries, in practice there are several factors that prevent legislative action. In this paper, we will examine these factors. Overall, we will see that pressure from the media and NGOs – although it was rather an obstacle initially – can gradually break the resistance of states. The culmination of this process is the adoption of a global minimum tax on the international stage and its subsequent implementation in the EU.