Question

A recent survey asked: Is it morally wrong for corporations to use tax havens? Its results: Most said yes. See http://environicsresearch.com/insights/nine-ten-canadians-think-morally-wrong-canadian-corporations-use-tax-havens-new-poll/.

Delving deeper into the issue of tax avoidance, you will go beyond the news release. You will examine the polling data, not just the news release. You will round up the news coverage of the survey results. You will gain a sense of the public debates of tax avoidance in Canada. You will learn from relevant studies on tax justice in civil society by think tanks, governments and academics around the world.

Making good use of your research, you will write a 100-word note starting with the following:

It’s morally wrong for Canadian corporations to use tax havens because ….

That is, you will start by completing the sentence and then you will make your most compelling argument in your submission. You only have 100 words so make one compelling argument and make it well. You are required to demonstrate that you have done extensive research and made good use of your research to argue why it’s morally wrong for Canadian corporations to use tax havens.

Important: You cannot make up your own research question, e.g. you cannot argue it’s not morally wrong for Canadian corporations to use tax havens or you have reservations or … as that’s NOT the research question for this particular part of the research project. Think of this as an exam, in which you cannot make up your own exam questions for any reason.

Answer 1

It’s morally wrong for Canadian corporations to use tax havens because, despite being legal, more often than not it leads to illegal actions. Tax havens are used for the purpose of tax avoidance (which is the legitimate way of minimizing taxes). Many corporations, later, start using different methods of tax evasion. It is to be noted that tax evasion is illegal and business establishments use different methods of tax evasion to shore up their profits. Moreover use of tax havens dilutes the attention on triple bottom-line. Focus is only on financial aspects while social and environmental aspects are often ignored.