On Pillar 2 Controversy and Trust

Issues involving controversy surrounding the operation of the newly devised Pillar Two rules in company taxation seem to have moved strikingly up business agendas and political agendas recently. On an informal meeting of tax practitioners from business and consultancy in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, on 30 May 2023, the author of the current blog was invited to elaborate on the topic of Pillar Two and controversy – from an academic, or perhaps, personal perspective. Playing the hand that had been dealt, the result of the honorable task assigned was a staging of Pillar Two as a new theatre of potential escalation in international relations, and a newly devised source of societal distrust in the way we are governed and taxed. Please read further below for a report on the results of the endeavor.