"It's basically telling people to beg, borrow or steal to buy a home, and that's exactly what they've done, " says Edward Kleinbard, a professor at the University of Southern California's law school and former chief of staff for Congress' Joint Committee on Taxation.
But if Vodafone does pay a very low bill on the deal, the company risks a hostile reaction given the high profile political debate around corporate taxation, says Professor John Kay at the London Schoolof Economics.