FAIR TAX MARK

That this House notes that the Government is losing much more than £1 in every £10 it seeks to collect from companies to tax evasion and avoidance; further notes that according to a recent Institute for Business Ethics poll, the public is now more concerned about tax avoidance than any other issue of corporate conduct; shares the public opposition to companies that avoid and evade paying the tax they owe; further notes the emergence of boycotts of companies such as Amazon and Starbucks; welcomes, like ICAEW and others, the launch of the Fair Tax Mark and the certification of Midcounties Co-opeative, Unity Trust Bank and others, who have been accredited as seeking to pay the tax that they owe in the right place at the right time; believes that such a mark will usefully provide consumers with the information they need to make ethical purchasing decisions based on the behaviour of corporations, and ultimately lead to additional tax revenue being paid to HM Revenue and Customs; and therefore calls on the Government to endorse the idea of a Fair Tax Mark, to work with its founders to put fair tax at the centre of the corporate social responsibility agenda and to redouble its efforts to clamp down on corporate tax evasion and avoidance.