Restoring trust

KEY POINTS

• Trust is a fundamental element of a tax system.
• Transparency on its own does not provide answers.
• Basis of trust is knowing the other person is reliable.
• Trust between elite groups creates distrust among others.

Tax is at the top of the political agenda said Judith Freedman professor of taxation law at the University of Oxford in her chartered tax advisers address on 10 May. There are also many changes taking place in response partly to political and public demands such as the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS) project but also to administrative pressures and technological developments such as Making Tax Digital.

Technology also makes it easier to bring information to the public eye most recently the Panama papers.

However...