[endymi0n]

I would be even siding with you slightly if this amounted to actually moving people, facilities and capital to that country.

However, in the modern world, corporations don't just use low taxes to simply route massive amounts of capital through low-tax countries without a net benefit for anyone — they are actually exploiting tax loopholes in different countries' tax laws against each other.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dutch_Sandwich

If Google actually used your machine to port scan and automatically exploit other computers, would you be enraged?

Well, that's exactly what their black hat tax lawyers were doing on the financial side:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dutch_Sandwich

[humanrebar]

If it doesn't benefit the Dutch, they would (and I understand they have at least attempted to) close the loopholes. For instance, they could require more presence in the country in particular ways: physically, employed citizens, cash in banks, taxes paid, etc.

If the beneficiaries are bribed individuals in various governments, that would be another thing entirely.

[Mirioron]

But these both clearly benefit Ireland and the Netherlands. Many of the major international corporations in the EU are set up in Ireland. Do you think that would be the case if Ireland couldn't attract them with the better tax offers? Ireland even had a referendum that initially rejected the Lisbon Treaty until Ireland got guarantees from the EU that it wouldn't affect their taxation.