Heavy Mittal? A State within a State: The inequitable Mineral Development Agreement between the Government of Liberia and Mittal Steel Holdings NV Global Witness Transfer pricing ,Taxes Environment ,Tax haven ,Offshore While this report aims at highlighting the unbalanced nature between Mittal Steel and the Government of Liberia, it is also a case study of a well-established pattern of behaviour by transnational corporations (TNCs) around the world: to maximise profit by taking advantage of a regulatory void, which allows TNCs to structure their trade and investment policies through capital flight and aggressive tax avoidance or tax reduction strategies. Transnational corporations have emerged as increasingly dominant players in the world. Of the 100 largest economies in the world, 51 are corporations while 49 are countries.Despite the increasing globalisation of markets and the prevailing role played by multinational corporations, there is no international legally binding regulatory regime that adequately controls their activities. Under international law, the private sector is obliged to promote international human rights, development and environmental standards. In practice,TNCare only guided by voluntary codes and self-regulation and are only accountable to their shareholders. As capital has become more and more geographically mobile, tax competition, tax avoidance and a lack of international tax policies have allowed TNCs like Mittal Steel to operate in extremely favourable financial conditions. Such conditions are not illegal and make perfect business sense. Washington: c Global Witness Publishing In 2006 2006 Text 68p. http://iffoadatabase.trustafrica.org/iff/heavy_mittal_a_state_within_a_state.pdf