system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5: There are tons of stories about companies using loopholes to not pay taxes in countries they do business in (Facebook in England, Ikea in Australia). My question: Why don't countries go after these companies more? Don't they WANT the taxes they've lost out on?
gpt
The whole point of a loophole is that it's legal, so there is nothing to "go after them" for, on the face of it. The companies aren't breaking the rules of the game, they're just using the rules  in ways the referees didn't expect.

Governments can try to pass new tax laws (or repeal previous ones) to close the loopholes, but lobbyists will do their best to stop or at least influence this process. New laws will likely have their own loopholes as well, inserted by those who have been lobbied, as simple oversights, or unrealized interactions with other laws or treaties.