Several guests at last month's LexisNexis Taxation Awards found themselves featured on YouTube, answering questions put to them by Christian Aid campaigners as they arrived at the event. Christian Aid has lobbied the big four accountancy firms in its campaign for country-based tax reporting. The charity invited many of the guests arriving at London's Park Lane Hilton to answer questions about corporate "tax dodging" which, it claims, costs developing countries $160bn a year.
The charity declared that "while the accountancy industry celebrated its achievements in tax-bill-minimisation, we held our own awards ceremony outside". The "winners" included Barclays, which the charity described as "tax haven enthusiast of the year". Christian Aid posted two videos on YouTube, featuring its "alternative" tax awards and the filmed reaction of several guests to questions put to them outside the Hilton. While some respondents were clearly in the "no comment" camp, others appeared more sympathetic. One said: "I don't know where you get your figures from, but if that's correct it's not going to make anyone feel very good."
"The majority of people we spoke to were positive about our campaign," the charity said. In this week's issue of Tolley's Practical Tax newsletter Madeleine Brand, a chartered tax adviser and Christian Aid volunteer, calls on tax advisers to support the charity's Big Tax Return campaign.**
See related posts in the Christian Aid category of this blog. The current issue of Tolley's Practical Tax newsletter ( 5 June) has more on this and other very recent developments including:
- HMRC discusses regulation of tax agents and possible penalties for "poor behaviour"
- Finance Bill "aggravates" long and complex tax code, says Tax Faculty
- OECD watching havens "like a hawk"
- Tax authorities agree "new co-operation" plan
- Chartered Institute of Taxation launches green tax report
** TPT reported on 22 May, having invited each of the big four firms for their reaction to Christian Aid's campaign, that:
PricewaterhouseCoopers said in a statement that it had "led the profession" in promoting more transparency in tax and wider corporate reporting. "PwC has met with Christian Aid to discuss our shared interest in improving corporate reporting of tax information and indeed subsequently continued this dialogue in writing," said Barry Marshall, the firm's UK head of tax. "We have a common interest to continue to improve corporate reporting of tax information. However we do not believe that the introduction of the kind of country-based reporting proposed by this campaign would meet this ambition." PwC added that its total tax contribution (TTC) framework was "designed to improve communication and understanding of a company's tax position" and "gaining traction and support around the world". The firm would "continue to support its development, in conjunction with our corporate reporting colleagues, to continually improve business reporting generally". The firm's website promotes TTC in the light of increasing scrutiny of the amount of tax paid by large businesses which, it adds, "pay considerably more in tax than it might first appear". It suggests that "a business's tax contribution and its tax strategy should be looked at from the point of view of all the taxes it bears and collects" ...
A KPMG spokesperson told TPT: "We have received a large volume of mail from Christian Aid supporters and we are listening to what they have to say." Ernst & Young told TPT: "We are aware of the campaign but are not commenting further." Deloitte declined to comment.
