From the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), a story we've been waiting for: "Capping a six-month investigation, the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) and its media partners are publishing a secret cache of leaked tax documents and dozens of … [Read more...]
Tax and corporate responsibility
On the risk of listening to the promoters of tax schemes
From the UK's HM Revenue & Customs, via Tax Research, a UK-focused article that is relevant for all companies listening to the siren songs of the promoters of tax schemes: 10 things a tax avoidance scheme promoter won’t always tell you … [Read more...]
Tax avoidance: so many people “talking out of their asset classes.”
We've just blogged a theological view of tax avoidance, in which we highlighted an excellent short, pithy blog by TJN Senior Adviser David Quentin with an equally excellent headline: People talking out of their asset classes. It's worth reading in full; we have decided on reflection that it's … [Read more...]
Energy giant SSE awarded Fair Tax Mark for tax transparency
British newspapers are today reporting a major step forward for the First Tax Mark, with energy giant SSE - the UK's second larget energy supplier - becoming the first FTSE 100 company to be awarded the Fair Tax Mark. … [Read more...]
Direct corporate welfare costs UK taxpayers £85bn a year
We recently remarked on the good work done by Good Jobs First in highlighting state-level corporate welfare in the United States. Greg Leroy of Good Jobs First also points is towards the work by the Pew Charitable Trusts to bring more transparency to federal-level subsidies and spending. Now, from … [Read more...]
Tax and corporate responsibility in Denmark – new report
The Danish organisation IBIS has just released a new report on tax and corporate responsibility, as part of its wider Tax Dialogue project on corporate responsibility. It maps the policies and practice with regards to corporate tax and CSR among some of the most influential corporates and investors … [Read more...]
PWC report endorses country by country reporting for banks
From Euractiv, a statement that would have been unthinkable even just a couple of years ago: "Publishing turnover, staff numbers, taxes paid and subsidies received in every country banks operate in, could boost competitiveness, increase lending and bolster financial stability, the independent … [Read more...]
Quote 2 of the day: shareholders, tax avoidance and refined sugar
A second quote of the day, this time from the Financial Times' Lombard column, a musing on the current U.S. focused news about corporate inversions: "Transactions sold on tax advantages should be sources of shareholder unease too. Governments can readily change their minds about corporate tax … [Read more...]
New book: fighting corporate abuse
A new book titled "Fighting Corporate Abuse: Beyond Predatory Capitalism" is to be published by Pluto. The authors include two TJN Senior Advisers, Prem Sikka and Sol Picciotto. The book offers public policies for tackling corporate abuses, as the blurb notes: … [Read more...]
Quote of the day: shareholder value and economists
From a fascinating long article about the genesis of high executive pay in the United States, a quote from French financial economist Jean-Charles Rochet: “Everyone knows that corporations are not just cash machines for their shareholders, but that they also provide goods and services for their … [Read more...]
KPMG offers generous advice that will help tax cheats
One of the most important live initiatives currently in the field of tax justice and international financial transparency is the OECD's Common Reporting Standards (CRS,) a system of automatic information exchange which we have broadly welcomed - though with some gripes - here. Now it turns out … [Read more...]
Public pressure works: new report
We've been emailed a paper entitled Public Pressure and Corporate Tax Behavior, Scott D. Dyreng of the Fuqua School of Business Duke University; Jeffrey L. Hoopes of Fisher College of Business Ohio State University; and Jaron H. Wilde, of Tippie College of Business University of Iowa. The … [Read more...]
Quote of the day: the purpose of corporations
From Prof. Colin Mayer of Oxford’s Saïd Business School, author of the book in the image: “The corporation is a rent extraction vehicle for the shortest-term shareholders.” That's quite a statement, and it comes via Martin Wolf in the Financial Times. The FT article discussing shareholder value … [Read more...]
Risk mining: what tax avoidance is, and exactly why it’s anti-social
Recently we wrote about a remarkable blog by Jolyon Maugham, a tax barrister, a view from the front lines, which we'll repeat again today, because it's so startling: "I have on my desk an Opinion – a piece of formal tax advice – from a prominent QC at the Tax Bar. In it, he expresses a view on the … [Read more...]
The Boys Who Won’t Say No
Are tax barristers enriching themselves by signing-off on dodgy legal opinions relating to tax avoidance? Surely not. The legal profession is a bastion of probity and wouldn't tolerate such shenanigans. Or maybe they would. … [Read more...]
