[refurb]

Return on investment weighs heavily on most business decisions. If I invest $X, by the end of the year I'll get $X*(1+return%).

Since companies can't invest everywhere at the same time, they prioritize investments. A higher tax rate might mean investing in that country later, as there are other investments than have a higher immediate return.

I could see a situation where an investment was profitable, but so marginally profitable due to the tax rate that the investment was delayed effectively forever.

[im3w1l]

But interest rates are low so if you see an opportunity to earn money, you can borrow to seize that opportunity.

This assumes that when you scale up your organization, your costs scale up linearly. If it caused marginal wage to shoot through the roof, that could be a reason not to do it I guess.

[refurb]

Low interest rates solve the funds issue, but it's not the only limitation to scaling.

[tomelders]

The reality is - The UK has a relatively low corporation tax rate. In the UK they would still getting plenty of return on their investment if they paid corporation tax on the profits generated in the UK.

These academic arguments about tax don't hold much sway with me. 18% is a perfectly reasonable rate of corporation tax. Paying that tax ensures the long term viability of the British economy from which Facebook will earn even more profits. Not paying it is just leaching the nutrients out of the environment. It's a scorched earth policy and HMRC should be merciless in their punishment of it. And I use the word punishment intentionally.