The research project “A Social Licence for Business” has submitted a response to the “Tax After Coronavirus” UK Parliamentary Inquiry.
The project team supports the Parliamentary Committee’s work to re-examine the UK tax system after Covid-19.
However, we want to emphasize that such reforms need the full confidence of the public as well as multinational organisations, to avoid erosion of the tac base. Ensuring such confidence is likely to be particularly difficult during the current times.
We recommend that, in order to counter these difficulties, the Committee should make explicit the basis for changes to the UK tax framework, for example in terms of the social contract between business and society. This wider framework would motivate embracing a general ethical attitude and increase the chance of compliance. Moreover, intergenerational justice should be central in reforms, to ensure that businesses pay back the support received today by meeting appropriate taxation levels in the future.
If you are interested in our work, please find more information in the project’s consultation document and get in touch.