Ben Chu: Fair Tax Mark is pro-market

Outlook

One of the sillier accusations which gets levelled at politicians and campaigners who draw attention to tax avoidance by multinational firms is that they are somehow “anti-business” or “anti-free market”.

An eloquent response came yesterday with the rolling out of the “Fair Tax Mark” by Ethical Consumer magazine and Richard Murphy of the Tax Justice Network. This is effectively a seal of approval for firms that show themselves to be transparent about their tax arrangements.

The mark will give people the knowledge they need in order to make decisions about where to spend or invest their money.

What could be more pro-business and pro-market than that?