Fair Tax Mark launches today!
Image courtesy of LiveSurface Context
The campaign for a more responsible approach to tax by business takes a decisive step forward today with Midcounties Co-operative, Unity Trust Bank and The Phone Co-op becoming the first businesses to be accredited by the new Fair Tax Mark, the world’s first independent accreditation scheme to address the issue of responsible tax.
The Mark, which has been developed by a team of tax justice campaigners and tax experts shows that a company is making a genuine effort to be open and transparent about its tax affairs and pays the right amount of corporation tax at the right time and in the right place.
Richard Murphy, technical director of the Fair Tax Mark says:
“Around the world and here in the UK people are now aware that many big businesses routinely fail to pay the taxes they really owe. What they now want to do is spend their money with those companies who are doing the right thing by seeking to pay the fair tax that they owe in the right place at the right time.”
The accreditation of the Fair Tax Mark pioneer companies comes at a time when recent polling from the Institute for Business Ethics has found that corporate tax avoidance is now the number one concern of the public when it comes to business conduct.
Current estimates suggest that whilst the public sector budget is being slashed, corporate tax avoidance in the UK is currently running at £12 billion every year, a sum which would fund the training of almost half a million midwives and pay the salaries of half a million teachers for a year.
With support from across the political spectrum and more and more businesses coming on board, the Fair Tax Mark has the potential to be a real game-changer for this issue. Murphy added: “The Mark is the next step in the campaign for tax justice.”
Read more about our pioneer companies:
Find out how your company can become Fair Tax accredited here.
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