Multi National Corporations are good at limiting the Duties & Tribute demanded by Nation States. But with the return of inflation over 5 - 10% this position is dented.
Inflation works on every item in the Balance Sheet, causing a business to raise more working capital or divert profits to it. Under high inflation a small business owner may have to find more working capital than the profit he is making - but naturally the Nation State Tribute extractors demand what they regard as their share of notional profit he is making. Much the same occurs for other items in the Balance Sheet.
Much the same is occurring with interest. From Roman times interest was around 2%, rising to higher levels for risky investments such as marine insurance. But if there was inflation interest rates rose to inflation + 2% - thus interest compensated for the fall in purchasing power of the investment expressed in money. This is not achieved where the Tribute Extractors demand a share of the compensation payment. The purpose of business is not achieved in these conditions.
The problem stems from the accounting measuring unit shrinking with time under inflation. For a while accountants produced inflation adjusted accounts, showing profits were over-stated in inflation prone currencies. But again the Tribute Extractors demanded the full share of the over stated profits in the shrinking currencies. And firms did not like the inflation adjusted accounts as it made their profits look smaller. But all sides were paying more Tribute than the real increase in wealth justified.
It is possible to produce accounts using Nation State figures for the value of their currency in different years, say £2020. Producing accounts in one such year's currency gives as view of the real change in value throughout the business over time. Getting Tribute Extractors to work on such figures is another matter - but these accounts will show the effects of such Tribute Extraction. But you cannot use such figures to store wealth or pay others
Some Nation States still produce a Gold Coinage. In UK the basis of the Coinage is the Gold Sovereign, where c 1/4 oz of pure gold should be 1 Pound. But a temporary Act during the 1930s Banking crisis relieved the Bank of England from repaying its Promissory Notes in Gold. Now such Bank of England Notes puchase about 1% of what a Sovereign would purchase.
The UK still mints Sovereigns and sells them to investors who want to hold Gold. Some other Nations also do this.
An MNC could keep its accounts in Sovereigns which would give a better measure of value rising through the business, and the Tribute Extractors would find it harder to insist that the firm uses the shrinking value of a Bank Note. It would not curb the inflation problem completely though. Technology has improved gold production methods from the Roman panning for native gold in rivers. Dissolving gold deposits in mercury lowered gold production costs, and more recently spraying old gold workings in cyanide lowered the costs further - thus the purchasing power of gold now tends to fall with time.
Are there any ways this could be further improved?