Corporate Social Responsibility and Tax Avoidance Regulation: A Two-Way Interplay

Corporate social responsibility, increasingly framed through environmental, social and governance practices, remains under-integrated within corporate taxation. This article analyses the two-way interplay between responsibility norms and the legal regulation of tax avoidance. It argues that responsibility is neither wholly extra-legal nor purely voluntary, while tax law alone is constrained by definitional indeterminacy, limits of legal design and enforcement, structural arbitrage opportunities, business lobbying and weaknesses in public accountability. Responsibility norms can strengthen tax governance and transparency; legal rules can, in turn, discipline responsibility initiatives through disclosure and accountability. Their interaction provides a more credible framework for constraining aggressive avoidance and strengthening corporate accountability in taxation.