I was thinking about the PWC poll of tax directors again. One finding has been nagging me. It's this:
Other stakeholders (excluding the above) that are relevant to our tax strategy are:
a. Investors/shareholders/owners 71%
Think about it. The people who answered this questionnaire are senior tax directors. And 29% of them do not think they need to take shareholder concerns into account in their tax planning. Which almost certainly means that quite a lot of the rest think they should, but don't in practice. I think the case is proven that the tax affairs of big business are run as a macho game by big business for big business with indifference to the needs of anyone else.
Tax and corporate responsibility have a long way to go.
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[…] This measure has been, I think universally opposed by business and the large firms of accountants. The Tax Justice Network was one of about three providers of letters in support, another being Senator Carl Levin. There’s good reason why we do support this measure (even though it has been watered down since the exposure draft was published). That reason is that tax risk is transferred from companies to shareholders, and is a game played by companies in opposition to the State. I’m not making this up. When PWC surveyed tax directors only 71% thought of them what they did was done in the interests of shareholders. […]