Tax avoidance on an industrial scale in a country where almost half of children are malnourished and their families live on less than $2 a day? When I read the results of a 12-month investigation by ActionAid into Associated British Food, one of the biggest companies in Britain, it took my breath away to discover that $13 million a year was being transferred out of Zambia into tax havens. The tax avoidance ensured a maximum return for shareholders. But will those shareholders sleep soundly in the knowledge that Associated British Foods removed almost 19 times the amount the British taxpayer donates in aid money to this developing country?
The time has come for companies to accept that their customers, employees, and yes even their shareholders believe that paying a fair share of tax is an important measure of corporate social responsibility.
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