Why paying your taxes is not corporate social responsibility

Upon returning from a ski trip at Mount Snow, Vermont, where I hadn't had Internet access for a three-day weekend (which might be regarded as an (albeit modest) offset of my unusually large skiing carbon footprint, I came across this The Guardian article (thanks to David of Coethica for pointing it out). The article suggests that a company's fiscal obligations should be regarded as a corporate social responsibility. I disagree and here is why.

Companies have many obligations and most of them are governed by law which makes them legally mandatory. Paying ones' taxes is one of such obligations. A country's government - usually the fiscal authorities - are tasked with enforcing the fiscal law and making sure taxes are paid fully and timely. Tax evasion has harsh legal consequences, therefore most companies wouldn't want to be charged with that. Tax avoidance is trickier because it assumes existance of certain legal loopholes which encourage various schemes. In both cases, it's the job of the fiscal authorities to identify and curb such violations. Some countries are better at this, others are worse. On the contrary, corporate social responsibility is not mandatory. To be a good corporate citizen is a voluntary choice. It's based on a company's internal committment to minimize its social and environmental impact as well as maximize its social and environmental benefits. While some companies have successfully made this decision, others are yet to get there.

In any case, fiscal obligations and corporate social responsibility shouldn't be addressed in the same way. One has to do with complying with the law, the other with changing mentalities, attitudes and behaviors. While both are important, the way we define and promote them are quite opposite.