PwC has published its annual tax survey of the UK’s biggest companies. Here Martin McEwen, Head of Tax for SSE, reflects on how we can ensure we are paying our fair share.
SSE has enhanced its position near the top of an important annual tax survey that sheds light on all the taxes paid and taxes collected by the UK’s biggest companies.
The Total Tax Contribution report has been published for the last 11 years by PwC with SSE’s ranking increasing by two places in terms of taxes paid. Taxes borne by SSE totalled £490,259,529 in 2014/15 which ranked us 13th, up from 15th last year, among the 105 survey participants that provided data.
The survey spells out all the taxes paid and collected by the UK’s biggest companies. SSE believes it is important that there is greater transparency of all of our economic and fiscal impacts but we clearly recognise the important status of profit taxes. Corporation taxes may be a fraction of the overall contribution made to the public finances by business, but they’re the taxes that land companies in the spotlight most often.
That’s why SSE took the bold step of becoming the first FTSE 100 Company to be accredited by the Fair Tax Mark – the label for companies and organisations that are proud to pay their fair share of tax.
We did it because we wanted our all of our customers to have confidence that their energy provider is paying its fair share of tax. It’s an annual process, and we were all proud to be recently accredited for a second year.
Earlier in the year we commissioned pollsters YouGov to test the public attitude to big business and it came as no surprise that there was widespread mistrust. Our survey found that just 34% of the public believed that big businesses pay their fair share of tax; yet 80% believed that small businesses do.
Tax avoidance is a perfect illustration of why trust in big business has been disintegrating. When UK households see reports of large scale tax avoidance, they see it as an apparent abuse of power. The perception is that there is somehow a different set of rules for those who hold the levers of power and wealth than there is for everyone else.
To gain Fair Tax accreditation SSE published its tax policy, clearly stating that it does not use artificial tax avoidance schemes or tax havens to reduce its tax liabilities, and significantly enhanced the tax disclosure notes within its Financial Statements. These go well beyond the current requirements of UK company law.
Tax should not be thought of as penalties on profits. Rather, it’s the proper way to give back to the society that’s helped you in the first place and it’s why all companies need to make sure they are paying their fair share.