MSCI ESG Issue Brief: The 'Tax Gap' in the MSCI World

Dec 23, 2013

In December 2011, we highlighted aggressive corporate tax strategies among our 2012 ESG Trends to Watch as an area we believed would receive greater policy attention and thus represent growing reputational risk. Not waiting around for policy makers to weigh in, media and the public have since singled out some high profile global companies for public shaming given a perceived mismatch between their level of tax payments and revenues earned in countries such as the UK and Italy.  In 2014, will the naming-and-shaming game give way to a more systematic push to compel improved tax disclosure, driving investors to question the ability of some companies to keep their tax payments below the norm?

Authors: LEE Linda-Eling, SHAKDWIPEE Manish