How can we stop tax avoidance? | UK Uncut's Ellie Mae O'Hagan and City AM's Allister Heath | Comment is free | The Guardian

In an article about tax avoidance I found an interesting comment about companies:

Companies, at the end of the day, don't exist – they're just a bundle of contracts. As far as I'm concerned, companies are made up of people – some people provide capital, some people work there.

In the light of the work I'm doing on corprisations, I think I disagree but find an important insight in that. Companies clearly do exist: they're legal entities with rights and duties. They can be fined, they can pay tax. So even at the level of simple legalities, they can't be reduced to people and a bundle of contracts. Though clearly both people and contracts are essential to their existence. But also, culture, plant, money etc are involved and, more importantly, interactions which may become (and often do) quite complex and allow for the emergence of something that is not 'merely' a bundle of contracts.

However, this quote does help us to recall that contractual obligations are part of the essential support for the complexity.

How can we stop tax avoidance? | UK Uncut's Ellie Mae O'Hagan and City AM's Allister Heath | Comment is free | The Guardian: