IIUC, they are paying taxes on goods sold, but those taxes are then offset by “losses” which they incur by “buying”, say, IP licenses, from their sister company. This sister company get record profits, but this company is then located in a tax haven, and pays no taxes on these profits.

The argument is a tax on revenue is very unfair to low margin business like retail or farming, so corp. tax is usually on profits. Which creates the loophole of where are the profits recognized.