PwC’s Powell says international tax no longer fit for purpose

PWC CHAIRMAN and senior partner Ian Powell claimed international tax laws and rates were no longer fit for purpose because they were based on old-fashioned ways of working.

At the firm’s Building Public Trust awards last night, Powell gave a speech about the media storm around tax planning strategies and avoidance. He said that that profession and the the global community, desperately needs the regime to change.

Powell said that tax rates were created on old ideals where a person bought a product in person and paid tax on that tangible product. However, now products are exchanged internationally, or digitally, and goods are no longer as clear cut as they were before. Commerce has evolved and the tax system needs to evolve to keep pace, was Powell’s message.

Yesterday was the firm’s 11th annual award, which commends businesses that have delivered excellence in their reporting by focusing on responsible business. Members of the judging panel included Maggie McGhee, a director at the National Audit Office, Philippa Foster Back OBE, director at institute of business ethics, Robert Hodgkinson, director at ICAEW, Roger Adams, director ACCA, and Charles Tilly, CEO CIMA.

The winners were: Anglo American for excellence in reporting in the FTSE 100; The Go-Ahead Group for excellence in reporting in the FTSE 250; and The Crown Estate for excellence in reporting in the public sector.