Directors’ duty to maximise profits

In the contemporary debate surrounding the perceived immorality of tax avoidance it is surprising that corporate business has not sought to stand its ground more assertively.

If a director is obliged to maximise company profits for the benefit of shareholders and other stakeholders and he takes steps – always within the law – to minimise the amount of tax which his company must pay what has the director or the company done wrong? Criticisms of corporate behaviour should be levelled at a taxation system which permits a company to reduce payment of tax in this way and not at the company or its directors for taking advantage of what the law has hitherto been content to allow and what some might say the law obliges them...