The influence of tax payments and tax avoidance on corporate social responsibility

Abstract

A research topic that is not often analyzed is the effects tax payments and tax avoidance have on the corporate social responsibility performance of a firm. Multinational corporations take advantage of different tax regimes in the different jurisdictions they operate in to reduce their taxes as much as possible. A first research question of this thesis is if firms that have a higher CSR score, or in other words that are more social responsible, do avoid less taxes? A second question can which is related to the first one can be added. Do firms with lower CSR scores, meaning less socially responsible firms, avoid more taxes? The findings are mixed. Some suggest that more socially responsible firms pay more taxes than less socially responsible ones and others suggest the contrary. The practical answers gathered however suggest that less socially responsible firms do not avoid more taxes.