Most cartelists meet in secret. Usually in hotel rooms. They try not to leave a paper or email trail. They use code names, because in many countries their scheme to set a floor under prices, if uncovered, would send them to jail, certainly so in the US.
None of that for the cartelist-members of the international bureaucracy inflamed by what it calls “strategies used by multinational corporations . . . to avoid paying tax”. No hotel rooms; plush government meeting rooms instead. No secrecy; instead, press releases hailing progress in ending what they call “a race to the bottom” — in effect, a deal not to compete too vigorously for new business, in this case corporations looking for a home. Henceforth, every international company will pay taxes at a rate of at least 15% of profits, unless Ireland, which has “significant reservations”, insists that its 12.5% rate is the better level.
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