The FT editorial this morning says:

The best G8 outcome would be an international agreement on how to link tax bases to real economic activity and limit the creation of letterbox subsidiaries whose sole purpose is to locate the most profitable parts of businesses in low-tax jurisdictions — or in no jurisdiction at all.

In the short run, the UK could provide real leadership by backing a push for a common consolidated corporate tax base across the EU. Far from a thin end of the wedge of tax rate harmonisation, CCCTB can protect legitimate tax competition against claims of unfairness. The G8 should also advance the cause of the automatic exchange of tax information between governments, an essential tool for tax authorities to verify that democratically chosen tax structures are working.

Spot on: unitary tax has to be the direction of travel.

The question is how we get there. It will be in stages. There are issues with the CCCTB, but the FT is right: this is the way we have to go if the tax system is to really work as we need it to do.