From 2008 to 2011, ArcelorMittal Finance, which is registered in Belgium, generated profits of €5.8bn. However, because the steel group’s “internal bank” is “hypercapitalised” (€28bn of capital between 2008 and 2010, and €36.6bn in 2011), it was able to take advantage of “notional interest deduction”, a specifically Belgian tax break that allows companies to avoid tax if they invest using their own resources.
Over four years, the group's “internal bank” deducted €5.6bn: ArcelorMittal was only obliged to pay tax for one year (€81mn in 2008). This amounted to an overall tax rate of 1.4 per cent from 2008-2011.
A conversation with investigative reporters Stefano Valentino and Giorgio Michalopoulos, who have dissected the dark underbelly of green finance for Voxeurop and won several awards for their work.
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