Julie Hughff considers whether greater transparency in tax will help, and examines what steps are needed to achieve it.
Will it help and how can it be achieved.
The calls for mandatory reporting of tax payments and detailed information such as sales and net assets on a country by country basis are coming from all quarters – from NGOs MPs and civil society groups to the EU Commission. But is mandatory reporting via legislation the right approach or could there be room for voluntary disclosure?
References are often made to such voluntary disclosure regimes for the extractives industry – Publish What You Pay and The Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative – as examples of good practice. It’s important to consider the objectives behind these initiatives as these influenced...
