SME decision makers: ‘Pay tax and promote CSR’

Ben TobinYouGov PR Manager
February 25, 2014, 3:59 PM GMT+0

When comparing recent YouGov Business Omnibus research with June last year, we find that key decision makers in SME’s are more likely to hold negative opinion of large multinational corporations that avoid paying tax in the UK than they did then. They also place greater emphasis on the importance of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR).

Over three quarters of the decision makers surveyed (77%) have a negative opinion of large corporations avoiding paying tax in the UK. This is up 5% from the survey in June last year (72%). In contrast, just over one in ten (11%) have a positive opinion and 10% have no opinion. This re-enforces the opinions of many that the failure of large businesses to pay tax in the UK could be detrimental to essential services such as health, education and transport, and is not defendable with the notion that it is essential to business growth and job creation.

More generally, almost nine in ten (89%) believe that businesses implementing policies that promote CSR is important for the reputation of a business, which compares to 79% who said the same in June. Just 15% say it is not important.

Over four fifths (83%) believe implementing policies that promote CSR is important for economic stability in Britain, a significant increase from 73% last June. 16% say it is not important, down from 20%. Nearly seven in ten (68%) believe implementing such policies is good for environmental stability versus 30% who do not. Additionally, 75% say it is important for social stability as opposed to 22% who say it is not.

Rudy Sooprayen, Research Manager at YouGov says; ‘Our research suggests that attitudes towards large multinational corporations that avoid tax are not softening, in fact they could be deteriorating. This indicates that policies which promote CSR are more vital than ever, especially where the reputation of a business is concerned.’

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