Corporate Taxation and Social Responsibility

This book advocates ethical self-restraint in the realm of corporate tax. It seeks to undermine, and ideally to remove, any self-serving rationalizations that may seductively encourage corporate executives to act without restraint. Nowhere is this more needed than in the world of business regulations, where corporate executives may be tempted to influence the formation, implementation, and reform of the regulatory regime so as to further the interests of their businesses. This includes, most notably, manipulation of corporate-tax law.

“This is a ground-breaking book. It is the first book-length statement explaining why managers of business corporations have an ethical obligation to cooperate with tax legislation in corporate income taxation, locally, nationally and globally. This ethical obligation is binding regardless of any potential impact on the value of the corporation.”

Reuven S. Avi-Yonah, Irwin I. Cohn Professor of Law and Director of
International Tax LLM Program, Michigan Law, University of Michigan

“At a time when a majority of young people prefer socialism to capitalism and the head of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce warns that companies risk losing their license to operate if income inequalities persist, Professors Hilling and Ostas have written a compelling appeal for managers and their lawyers and accountants to ensure that the corporations they lead or advise live up to their social contract by paying their fair share of taxes. A must-read for business leaders, politicians, ethicists, and activists.”

Constance E. Bagley, Senior Research Fellow,
Yale School of Management, Yale University