That’s usually the case of any kind of operation, no? If you use the infrastructure and services of a particular country its seems reasonable to pay taxes on your profits there.
It does seem like a reasonable principle, which makes abolishing the corporate tax unpersuasive. If there were only a single jurisdiction the argument would be more compelling.
It certainly isn't impossible for nations to tax foreign individuals operating companies locally without a corporate tax. A way would be:
a) similar to KYC laws, make knowing all persons who own part of a company mandatory, regardless of how many structures (corporations, trusts, whatever) you have to go through.
b) preemptively tax every individual on profits/salaries/perks/payments from the company at some established rate.
c) come tax season, ask for a global income statement from everyone taxed. Adjust their taxes based on whatever bracket they land in.
Even without a corporate income tax companies would still generate tax income in foreign countries where they sell goods and services, e.g. VAT/sales tax. They would also pay property tax on any physical presence they maintain and probably a myriad of other taxes depending on the country.
While the tax incidence (where the burden lands) of various taxes is a thorny question subject to much debate in the literature I don’t think it’s especially controversial to say that sales, property, and wage taxes are likely to have different incidences than a tax on profits.
