Better late than never: the CSR community is beginning to notice tax

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I was ironically amused by a piece in the FT yesterday where it was notedthat:

Taxation is an “open sore” of corporate responsibility, according to the executive at the centre of efforts to boost the contribution of business to society.

Stephen Howard [is] chief executive of Business in the Community (BITC), a business-led charity that puts tax – and executive pay – at the top of the list of issues that are undermining trust in companies.

Controversies about tax avoidance and directors' pay are “gnawing away” at achievements in other areas of corporate responsibility, he said in an interview with the Financial Times. “Whatever companies do and say, there is a ‘yes, but why have you paid this person that'? or ‘should you have done something else on tax?'”

Why the ironic amusement? That's because it has taken eleven years for him to notice tax, which is an issue the BITC has persistently ignored for years. And then when he comes to retire he mentions it.


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