Shifting Sands: Tax, Transparency and multinationals

Christian Aid has an important new report out. There is much to recommend in here. Here is the premise:

Over the course of 2010, Christian Aid has been discussing tax and development with tax directors from some of the largest companies in the world. We launched a survey to solicit the perspectives of FTSE100 companies on the role of business in tax and development. Of the 100 companies surveyed, 20 responded by completing the survey and a further 16 responded by letter.

And the results? There were many, but here are a select few:

Of those companies that completed the survey, 19 firms agreed that ‘tax is a vital source of income for developing countries’ and ‘multinational companies should fully comply with tax laws in the countries in which they operate’. Twelve agreed that ‘payment of tax in developing countries should form a key part of an organisation’s corporate social responsibility commitment’.

There were a large number of other essential findings. Now read on.