Seamus Coffey: It's the US itself that is the biggest tax haven for US companies

The taxation of multinational companies garners significant attention in media, research and political spheres. There is no doubt that the system for taxing companies needs updating but many of the contributions on the topic contain one, or on occasion all, of the following shortcomings.

There are statements that can only ever be true so have no meaningful value, claims which are incomplete or just plain wrong that mispresent the actual outcomes and an absence of setting out what the actual outcomes are.