If someone in power is so stupid to do it, companies will stop operating on their country but the world will continue going around and tax heavens will continue existing.
Governments are bankrupt totally now, expending way more that what they earn, with 5% deficits or more and want to raise more and more money in taxes, but there is a limit on what they could extract, as people can stop working if they become slaves.
Take Q8, they own gas stations in Denmark. Apparently they've made no profit in Denmark, EVER. That is of cause a blatant lie. They've just moved the profit abroad. Taxing the revenue, directly at the pump, would either drive a lying company out and make room for more honest ones, or they would start paying their share.
There's ALWAYS someone who see an opportunity. Coca Cola leaving because they refuse to pay your tax? Fine Pepsi will swoop in that same day.
What you're suggestion is that companies will only ever operate in countries that makes it possible to be creative with taxes.
It depends, for we have a state level test of this, Washington State and Boeing, which has a very boom and bust pattern of profitability. Of course, political muscle was used on them when they last tried to expand outside of the state, but I'm sure that initially, when the gross receipts tax was imposed, it just cost too much for them to move their factories elsewhere.
Of course, this tax does nothing good for other companies that it hits (there's a lower threshold as I recall, otherwise few would ever start up a company in the state), that aren't so profitable.
The US already have sales taxes, at least in some places. The US generally, as is my understanding, doesn't have a VAT. VAT is a consumption tax, sales taxes are taxing the sellers purchase.
The differers is very subtle.
There's also exemptions or lower rates for things like food, and even sales tax "holidays" when certain classes of items are free of sales tax for a few days. All of this complexity is one reason Internet companies don't want to collect it.
If we have a VAT, no one's told me about it (a general one, anyway)! The concept does get mooted every once in a while.
It would be a very drastic change, and may items would need to have their prices adjusted, as low profit items could be a problem.
The clever bit is that tax heavens are not longer possible, because it's not important where you move your profit to.