Abstract

94 ARTICLE REVIEWS Responsible Tax as Corporate Social Responsibility: The Case of Multinational Enterprises and Effective Tax in India A. Müller and A. Kolk Business & Society, 2015, 54(4), pp. 435–463 Thestudy is oneofthe recent pieces of work exploring the relationship between taxes and corporate social responsibility (CSR). The starting point for the study is the intriguing question of how multina- tionals behave in regulatory jurisdictions such as India, where they enjoy a ‘moral free space’ (437), as the authors define the discretionary corporate freedom in these societies. The question is not new, but theytestitwithrespect to taxpayments. Basedon a relatively large sample and using statistical regressions, they find that subsidiaries of multinationals in India pay higher effective tax rates (ETR) than local firms and also that multinationals with higher CSR profiles pay more taxes than those with lower records of CSR activities. The authors conclude that multinationals prefer to contribute to the much needed development of the host country rather than elude taxes. I have at least two reservations regarding the results of this article. First, I faced difficulties in understanding some technical choices and omissions made by the authors. For instance, one criterion to judge tax responsibility was