The Fair Tax Mark conference is next Friday - June 12 at Amnesty International UK, 25 New Inn Yard London EC2A 3EA . As Fair Tax Mark say of the event:

‘Tax' is the corporate responsibility issue of our day. The time has come for responsible tax payers to differentiate themselves from the avoiders and evaders, and lead the next big development in corporate responsibility.

How a business responds to this issue defines how it is viewed by a significant proportion of the public. For the last two years, corporate tax avoidance has been the number one concern of the UK public when it comes to business conduct. Tax avoidance was the break-through issue of the UK's General Election of 2015. 

This Conference will feature presentations from Fair Tax Mark corporate pioneers such as SSE plc and Midcounties Co-operative, and explore how a business can demonstrate that it pays the right amount of tax in the right place at the right time. It will also ask what the UK's new Government means for the issue, and what sort of legislative framework is needed to ensure that aggressive tax avoidance is minimised.

This Conference will be the first time progressive businesses, politicians, accountants and NGOs have explored these issues in such depth together. With Fair Tax Marks now springing up in other countries, this is the tax event of the year.

This is the conference programme:

Programme

9.30am Registration

10.00am Welcome

• Paul Monaghan, Corporate Responsibility Specialist, Fair Tax Mark

10.10am Political Keynote Address - tbc

10.30am Discussion — Do we need a Fair Tax Mark?

• Meesha Nehru, Programme Director, Fair Tax Mark
• Brandon Rennet, Managing Director, Finance, SSE plc
• Ben Reid, Chief Executive, Midcounties Co-operative
• Sudip Hazra, Investment Analyst, Kepler Chevreux
• Matthew Bloch, Founder Director, Bytemark Hosting

11.30am Discussion — Do we need an overhaul of UK tax avoidance legislation?

• Jenny Ricks, Head of Campaigns, Action Aid
• Richard Murphy, Director of Tax Research
• Jane McCormick, Head of Tax, KPMG
• Simon Bowers, Senior Financial Reporter, Guardian
• Cathy Cross, National Campaigns Officer, Public & Commercial Services Union (PCS)

12.30pm Lunch

1.15pm Keynote: Margaret Hodge, MP - Chair, UK Public Accounts Committee 2010-15

1.35pm Workshops

• 1)Public perceptions of tax avoidance — latest polling and analysis. Polling organization tbc
• 2) Responsible Tax Practice - the latest research on what's already out there. Matti Kohonen, Christian Aid & Kerry Stares, Action Aid
• 3) Tax as a differentiator for co-operatives / social enterprises. Ed Mayo, Secretary General, Co-operatives UK
• 4) Where next for the Fair Tax Mark? Meesha Nehru & Richard Murphy, Fair Tax Mark

2.20pm Workshop learnings and High Level Response

• Rob Harrison, Ethical Consumer
• Toby Quantrill, Principal Economic Adviser, Christian Aid
• Ed Mayo, Secretary General, Co-operatives UK
• Alex Cobham, Director of Research, Tax Justice Network
• Representative, Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales

3.15pm End

Tickets are available from here or mail me.