The Netherlands as Tax Haven

The Netherlands attract many foreign investors. These companies, however, pay low taxes because only a small part of their ‘investments’ end up in the real economy. Recent figures published by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, Organisatie voor Economische Samenwerking en Ontwikkeling (OESO), revealed this. Luxembourg has the same story. The Netherlands and Luxembourg received foreign investments of 3.5 and 2.3 trillion euro, respectively, of which 573 and 122 billion ended up in the real economy. The rest went to companies especially designed to avoid taxes. The two countries together received the same amount of capital as those of the United States, Germany and Great Britain put together. Nu.nl reported that large companies like IKEA and Google, which legally evade taxes via Dutch financial constructions, have recently received attention. Countries need to monitor their cash flows during the economic crisis.