“The United Nations is boldly going where no international body has gone before. At a meeting of its Economic and Social Council last week one of the items on the agenda was ‘whether a satellite in geostationary orbit could constitute a permanent establishment’ for tax purposes. The hydra-headed attempt to crackdown on tax havens risks failing because it could simply create a whole new patchwork of rules which can be just as easily gamed as the current lot. Alternatively, complexities for firms created by new rules could bring about the most unexpected of unintended consequences……… off-globe finance. In space, no-one can hear you tax plan.”
