Rockstar Games made 4b between 2013-19, paid no corporate tax in the UK, claimed 42m in tax relief

Multinationals are excellent players of the global financial tax system, using "profit shifting" (through which operating profits are remitted to phony sister companies in tax havens as "licensing fees" or "management fees") to make it look like wildly profitable companies are losing money, making them eligible for tax relief and rebates -- thus it is that companies can rake in billions and then receive millions more in corporate welfare.

To see this in action, look no further than Rockstar North, the Scottish branch of Rockstar Games, makers of Grand Theft Auto (owned by Take-Two Entertainment). Between 2013-2019, Rockstar North claimed so little revenue that it owed 0.00 in taxes, and actually managed to claim 42m in tax relief from the British taxpayers.

Take-Two's market cap is 13.1b; over the period in which Rockstar North was pleading poverty (and making an estimated operating profit of 4b), the company dispersed 3.4b in executive bonuses. One of Take-Two's most profitable products is GTA, produced by Rockstar North.

Rockstar North claimed 19% of all available video game tax credits in the UK. The tax credit scheme was created to reward companies whose games make "a significant contribution to British culture" through "British settings, characters and development, and promoting cultural diversity." GTA is set in a fictional California town.

Taxwatch UK's Gaming the System report on Rockstar North's tax evasion notes that the whole scheme is perfectly legal -- in other words, the system is working exactly as it was designed to do.

Although the statutory accounts of Rockstar North, the maker of Grand Theft Auto V, state that the company is hardly making any profit, the game is widely reported to be the most profitable media product in history.