Category: Tax avoidance

The social construction of multinational firms’ tax behaviour

This week I am trying to help the undergraduate students that I teach to understand a range of scholarship that uses social constructivism to study the political economy. When you go back to first principles to teach something you often see some of your own work in a new light, and that is what I… Continue reading The social construction of multinational firms’ tax behaviour

What ‘tax responsibility’ might look like in the real world

In my conversations with tax executives from multinational businesses, I’m used to hearing them talk about the decision any business makes about how aggressive its tax positioning is going to be. The position advanced by many campaigners is that a socially responsible business will make a conscious decision to be at the less aggressive end… Continue reading What ‘tax responsibility’ might look like in the real world

Base Erosion and Profit Shifting? It takes one to know one

Last week I was at a research workshop for PhD students at the International Bureau for Fiscal Documentation in Amsterdam. It was very interesting to be in the Netherlands in a rather introspective week about the country’s tax treaties. The Netherlands is quite sensitive about the accusation that it’s a tax haven, as I found… Continue reading Base Erosion and Profit Shifting? It takes one to know one

Clamping down on Google’s tax avoidance: don’t hold your breath

This is a post I wrote for the LSE Policy & Politics blog. Google’s executive chairman Eric Schmidt will stand up to give a talk at the LSE this evening after a week of unprecedented criticism of the search giant. I wonder if he still feels the same way today as he did last October,… Continue reading Clamping down on Google’s tax avoidance: don’t hold your breath

Putting a price on the reputation risk from tax avoidance

What are the reputational consequences of perceived corporate tax avoidance? That’s the question that introduces today’s “Tax and Reputation Forum,” organised by the Oxford Centre for Business Taxation and friends. (It’s at King’s College London, so after the High Court the other week, I’m beginning to think that Aldwych is the centre of tax news!)… Continue reading Putting a price on the reputation risk from tax avoidance