Corporate Social Responsibility and Tax Planning: Rules and Principles

Taxpayers have to plan their tax affairs to plan their life or develop their business strategy. Often tax planning is encouraged and intended by tax legislation. Tax incentives are often used to steer (corporate) citizens’ behaviour to achieve all kind of policy goals. In this way, the tax legislator stimulates taxpayers to adopt a calculating attitude towards the tax system, breeding a rule-based mindset focused on tax planning. This rule-focus crowds out ethics.
Companies endorsing corporate social responsibility accept ethical obligations beyond compliance with the law. It is argued that these companies should agree that the interpretation and use of tax rules is based on a moral choice; all the more because the tax system is a moral phenomenon because it regards the provision of public goods and the distribution of tax burden. However, they should take one more step in endorsing the view that tax is a body of rules which itself is grounded in principles which make up the internal morality of law. Therefore, they should take these principles seriously when engaging in tax planning.