Talking telephone numbers.

Politicians of all stripes reacted angrily to news that the German subsidiary of Vodafone could deprive the government of up to $21 billion through tax write-offs. The law has been changed again to free profits earned by subsidiaries from tax. That, too, could benefit Vodafone. Constant changes to Germany's corporate-tax regime--long famed for its high tax rates on paper but low payment in practice--have given big firms lots of scope to pare their tax bills. The changes in 1999 exempted from tax both dividends and capital gains from subsidiaries.