Tax Justice UK
  • Home
  • Projects
    • Taxing Wealth
    • Tax and public opinion
    • Tax and the climate crisis
    • Ending tax dodging
  • About
    • Our approach
    • People
    • Funders
    • Sign up
    • Jobs
  • Blog
  • Donate

TAXTAKES

Social justice, tax justice and transparency

Krishen Mehta | Former Partner, PwC & Board Member, Tax Justice Network

Tax justice is one of the pathways to social justice. Just as the movement for women’s rights and labour rights, or the right to health care and education are an important element of our social fabric, so is the movement for tax justice. Ultimately, we want to build a just society that serves, protects, and promotes participation of the most vulnerable. Pope Francis began his speech to the UN in 2015 by talking about the need for a foundational imperative of a just economic system for all mankind.

What does this mean in the context of tax and financial transparency? I believe that it needs to have the following components:
  • Can large multinational companies be obliged to pay their fair share of taxes in countries where their economic activity actually occurs? This can best happen if they are taxed as single entities, rather than as a group of separate entities.
  • Can we stem the abuse of shell companies and tax havens that enable companies and the financial elite to move their profits away from where their profits occur? Can we expect more from the lawyers and accountants who help make that possible?
  • Can country-by-country reporting be a required public disclosure for all publicly held companies, so that the public itself can be a judge of the ethics and values of the companies in which they invest?
  • Can automatic exchange of information be a matter of normal practice among all jurisdictions, so that tax abuse can be stemmed with simplicity and ease?
  • Can the beneficial ownership of companies, trusts, and foundations be a matter of public record, so that society can exercise its fiduciary obligation to hold each person or entity accountable to the highest standard?
  • Can there be a World Tax Authority that can arbitrate tax disputes between nations, so that developing countries, that are often more vulnerable, are not left at the mercy of the richer multinational companies and of pressure from their countries of residence?
  • Can there be a harmonisation of predicate offences, so that a crime in one jurisdiction can be considered a crime in another, and funds from the proceeds of such crime cannot easily be transferred from one jurisdiction to another?

When we address the issues above with care and diligence, we will have the resources and the fortitude to take on some of society’s more pressing challenges. As an example, we could better ensure that banks and other financial institutions, subject to complete disclosure of their activities, do not take advantage of people suffering or recovering from a financial crisis. We can work towards trade agreements that can ensure that people with limited financial means can have access to lifesaving medicines. We can prevent austerity measures (that have inequality at their core) from closing schools and hospitals and other public services that are important for society. By taking these steps, we would essentially move from having profit as the primary motivation for our companies (which benefits just a few) to making society the primary beneficiary of a company’s success and wellbeing. 

Tax and financial transparency therefore has its origin in our natural desire for a just and fair economic system. As we move towards such a system, we respond to the challenge asked of us by Blaise Pascal, when he said that “justice and power must be brought together, so that whatever is just may be powerful, and whatever is powerful may be just.”
DOWNLOAD PDF
Picture
READ ONLINE
Championing the role of tax in building a civilised and fair society | Will Snell

Stopping ‘competition’ for corporate investment through tax cuts and giveaways | Sol Picciotto

How should we tax the new economy?
| Jolyon Maugham

An income tax system supporting social spending to reduce gender inequality
| Sue Himmelweit

Social justice, tax justice and transparency
| Krishen Mehta

Resourcing and refocusing HMRC
| Cathy Cross

Requiring companies to calculate and submit figures on deliberately created tax risk
 | David Quentin

The Tax Gap and what to do about it
| Richard Murphy

​Abolishing non-domiciled status
| Prem Sikka

ACT NOW


Become a member

Join Tax Justice UK for free by signing up for email updates and taking part in our campaigns
JOIN US

Take part in a campaign

Get involved in our current campaigns and make your voice heard in support of tax justice 
TAKE PART

Make a donation

Support Tax Justice UK by making a regular or one-off donation by debit card, credit card or direct debit

SUPPORT US
Tax Justice UK is a Company Limited by Guarantee in England & Wales (no. 10761736)
Registered Address: C/O Godfrey Wilson, ​Mariner House, 62 Prince St, Bristol BS1 4QD

Tax Justice UK is a partner of (but independent from) the Tax Justice Network

Privacy policy
Terms and conditions for using this website
Equality and Diversity Statement

If you have concerns about Tax Justice UK, you can make a complaint using this email address complaints@taxjustice.uk.

This website is published under the Creative Commons Attribution Licence
​Tax Justice UK campaigns for a better tax system to benefit everyone in the UK.
Media enquiries:  +44 (0)7413 729 505 (24hrs) 
Phone: +44 (0)20 3637 9137
​Email: mail AT taxjustice.uk
Picture
  • Home
  • Projects
    • Taxing Wealth
    • Tax and public opinion
    • Tax and the climate crisis
    • Ending tax dodging
  • About
    • Our approach
    • People
    • Funders
    • Sign up
    • Jobs
  • Blog
  • Donate