'No representation without taxation' and vice versa

It's tax season in the US and recently in the UK, and besides trying to figure out my not-well-managed filing system, I've been reflecting on the importance of taxes in order to make our lives run well and for enabling sustainable development. Taxes are a government's best source of income - the only other two (legitimate) ones being foreign aid and exploiting and exporting natural resources.  Of those options, only taxation ensures the government is responsible to its citizens - or at least, it is supposed to. Those governments who depend upon natural resources (ie, oil and gas) tend to be notoriously corrupt, inefficient, multilateral, undemocratic and in other ways unresponsive to people's needs.  It provides the 'blood of the social contract' around which governments and citizens can discuss what are their sustainable development priorities.

Some people suggest that given the importance of taxation, developing countries should focus on that - not on gaining income from donor countries. Given the poverty of many of these countries, it is difficult to fully support this idea. Though on the other hand, at the moment, many of the least developed countries could well benefit from the empowerment that comes from controlling large budgets - or even local authorities.  Increasingly, Africa tax administrators are wanting to use their expertise to make a difference in ending the humiliating and frustrating tendency towards aid dependency. A civil society meeting in West Africa was recently held under the headlines, 'No Taxation without Representation,' emphasizing the importance of accountability and transparency.

But this slogan raises an interesting challenge: what to do about company's taxation?

Of great importance for funding sustainable development is the amount of taxes that are not being paid - usually by companies - working in developing countries. Christian Aid estimates that developing countries lose as much as $160 billion to companies dodging tax. That's more than the global aid budget, and could easily contribute to funding environmental repair, conservation and achieving needed adaptation for climate change. (Lots of money is also lost into tax havens. Thanks in part to the financial crisis, this )

Tax Justice Network advocates an international accounting standard for country-by-country reporting - that would give a global picture of the financial activities of companies, showing from where they derive their profits and to whom do they pay their tax. Such a standard would assist revenue authorities and civil society in holding companies to account. Surely one of the key elements of good corporate citizenship is paying taxes where they are owed - and being transparent to that to the entire global society.  Sounds good to me - we need those taxes to achieve sustainable development and transparency of tax payment really ought to be a pillar of corporate responsibility.

But one must wonder, what are the appropriate types of representation for companies? We don't want to follow the model of the oil-controlled governments such as Nigeria where very little of those natural resources actually goes to lifting people out of poverty. How should companies, who are taxed, be represented? As normal 'citizens'?  But they are not normal citizens (US laws aside).  I don't have a good answer for this one, I'm afraid.