Corporate Tax Disclosure Strategies in Sustainability Reporting

This study examines tax disclosure strategies in sustainability reports. We develop a tax disclosure scoring framework and conduct a content analysis of 173 companies from the 2021 Fortune Global 250. We assess both the quantity and quality of tax disclosures and classify the underlying strategies using a framework of corporate responses to transparency demands. The findings reveal limited tax disclosure: 95 companies disclose some tax information, but only nine fully comply with the GRI Tax Standard. Dismissal emerges as the most common strategy (54 percent), followed by concealment (18 percent) and bargaining (14 percent). Only 14 percent of firms align with tax transparency expectations—9 percent partially through comprehensive qualitative disclosures and 5 percent with full compliance, including country-by-country data. These findings provide new insights into corporate tax responsibility and have implications for policymakers and managers seeking to enhance tax transparency and accountability.