Tax avoidance is now officially an issue for politicians and the public. Almost overnight we have become a nation concerned about whether businesses are paying enough tax. Some commentators are even suggesting that paying tax is a moral issue.

Pensioners at supermarket checkouts nowadays even enter into discussions about tax avoidance. It is wrong to try to ascribe a moral value system to the calculation of a tax base. We cannot measure it and business cannot know with certainty which side of the line they necessarily stand.