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Ethical Taxation Principles in Business

The document discusses ethical principles in business, focusing on taxation and employee rights. It outlines the theory and purposes of taxation, limitations, and the major changes introduced by the TRAIN Law, while also addressing the obligations of employers and employees, including issues like conflict of interest and rights to privacy and participation. Additionally, it highlights the importance of caring within organizations and the potential problems that can arise from excessive caring.
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0% found this document useful (0 votes)
17 views10 pages

Ethical Taxation Principles in Business

The document discusses ethical principles in business, focusing on taxation and employee rights. It outlines the theory and purposes of taxation, limitations, and the major changes introduced by the TRAIN Law, while also addressing the obligations of employers and employees, including issues like conflict of interest and rights to privacy and participation. Additionally, it highlights the importance of caring within organizations and the potential problems that can arise from excessive caring.
Copyright
© All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

Module 9

ETHICAL PRINCIPLES IN BUSINESS


Special Topic: Taxation

Taxation
-​ It is the act of laying a tax, the process or means by which the sovereign, through
its lawmaking body, raises revenue to defray the necessary expenses of the
government.

❑ Theory and Basis of Taxation


-​ existence of the government is a necessity
-​ reciprocal duties of protection and support between the State and its inhabitants
❑ Lifeblood Theory
-​ taxes are the lifeblood of the government

❑ Purposes of Taxation
1. Primary
- raise revenue to support governmental needs
2. Secondary
- compensatory
- regulatory

❑ Basic Principles of a Sound Tax System


- Fiscal adequacy
- Administrative Feasibility
- Equality / Theoretical Justice

❑ Limitations of Taxation
1. Inherent limitations
2. Constitutional limitations

❑ Inherent Limitations of Taxation


1. Non-delegation of the power to tax
2. Exemption of the government from taxation
3. Public purpose
4. Territorial jurisdiction
5. International comity
❑ Constitutional Limitations of Taxation
1. Due process of law
2. Power of the President to veto any particular item or items in a revenue or tariff bill
3. Non-imprisonment for non-payment of poll tax
4. Congress may authorize the president to fix tariff rates, import and export quotas,
tonnage and wharfage dues and other duties or imposts
5. Rule of uniformity and equity in taxation
6. No appropriation for religious purposes
8. Non-impairment of the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court in tax cases
9. Concurrence by a majority of all members of the Congress for the passage of a law
granting tax exemptions

❑ Rule of uniformity and equity in taxation


- Tax Systems
1. Progressive Tax System
2. Regressive Tax System
3. Proportionate Tax System

❑ TRAIN LAW (R.A. No. 10963)


- Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion
- signed into law on December 19, 2017
- implemented on January 1, 2018
- initial package of Comprehensive Tax Reform Program

❑ Objective of TRAIN LAW


- to correct a number of deficiencies in the tax system to make it simpler, fairer, and
more efficient
❑ Major changes in TRAIN LAW
- Personal Income Tax
- Transfer Taxes
- Business Taxes
- Excise Taxes
- New Taxes

❑ Personal Income Tax Tax Table before and after TRAIN:

❑ Personal Income Tax


- 90,000 exempt benefits
- Personal and additional exemptions for dependents
- Premium for health and hospitalization insurance
- 8% option for self-employed individuals and/or professionals

❑ Transfer Taxes
1. Estate Tax
- Tax Rate: from 5 – 32% to 6%
- Deductions: Standard Deduction & Family Home
2. Donors Tax
- Tax Rate: from 2 – 15% to 6%

❑ Business Taxes
1. Value Added Taxes
- VAT threshold: from P1,919,500 to P3,000,000
- VAT exempt transactions
2. Other Percentage Taxes
❑ Excise Taxes
- Cigarettes
- Manufactured oils and petroleum products
- Mineral products
- Automobiles

❑ New Taxes
- Sweetened beverages
- Non-essential services

MODULE 11
ETHICS AND THE EMPLOYEE

THE RATIONAL ORGANIZATION


Traditional model
Organization
– a structure of formal relationships which involved planned coordination of the activities
of a number of people for the achievement of some common, explicit purpose or goal,
through division of labor and function, and through a formal hierarchy of authority and
responsibility

Top Management
– the board of directors, the chief executive officer (CEO), and other company officers
such as the president, chief financial officer (CFO), chief technology officer (CTO), chief
human resources officer (CHRO), and various vice presidents
Middle Managers – those who direct the units below them and who are in turn directed
by those above them
Operating Layer – those employees and their immediate supervisors who directly
produce the goods and services that constitute the essential outputs of the organization

THE POWER OF CONTRACTS RECIPROCAL OBLIGATIONS


-​ To obey organizational superiors, loyally pursue the organization’s goals, and
avoid any activities that might threaten those goals
-​ To provide the employee with a just wage and just working conditions

THE EMPLOYEE’S OBLIGATION TO THE EMPLOYER


Law of Agency – legal duties of agents towards their principals Although the employee
can fail to live up to this duty and end up:
❑Conflict of Interest
❑Bribery and Extortion
❑Employee Theft
❑Theft of (Digitized) Information and Trade Secret/Proprietary Information

CONFLICT OF INTEREST
Based on Financial relationship ​ ​ ​ ​ OBJECTIVE
Based on Emotional ties or other kinds of relationship ​SUBJECTIVE
An employee has an interest that could influence what she does for her company if the
employee were performing a certain task for her company but he/she has not yet been
given that task to perform ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ POTENTIAL
An employee has an interest that could influence what she does for her company if the
employee were performing a certain task for her company and he/she actually has been
given that task to perform ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ACTUAL
Exists when an employee has no actual conflict of interest, but other people looking at
the employee’s situation may come to believe (wrongly) that he or she has an actual
conflict of interest ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ APPARENT

BRIBERY
-​ A person voluntarily solicits or accepts any benefits in exchange for influencing
an official act so as to afford the giver better than fair treatment

EXTORTION
-​ A person obtains property from another using coercion (e.g. threats of future
physical injury, property damage, or exposure to criminal charges or public
humiliation) or an implicit or explicit threat to give the payer worse than fair
treatment

THEFT
-​ The act of taking or using property that belongs to another without the consent of
its rightful owner

THEFT OF (DIGITIZED) INFORMATION/ TRADE SECRETS


➢ The unauthorized examination, use, or copying of computer information or
programs ➢ Hacking – secretly getting access to a computer system to get
information, cause damage
➢ Trade secrets – consist of nonpublic information that would materially and
negatively affect the company if others/competitors will have access to these
THE EMPLOYER'S OBLIGATIONS TO THE EMPLOYEES
-​ The Fairness of Wages
-​ The Fairness of Working Conditions: Health and Safety

The Fairness of Wages


EMPLOYEE’S POV
-​ Wages are the principal (perhaps the only) means for satisfying the basic
economic needs of the worker and the worker’s family

EMPLOYER’S POV
Wages are the cost of production that must be kept low lest the product be priced
out of the market

The Fairness of Working Conditions: Health and Safety


1. Eliminating risks when cost is reasonable,
2. Studying potential risks of a job,
3. Informing workers of known risks,
4. Compensating workers for injuries
5. Avoidance of sweatshops

An Employer is Morally Responsible for Bad Working Conditions


1. When he/she knows about the conditions
2. When he/she can and should improve them
3. When he/she does not do anything from changing the condition

-​ Sees the organization as a system of competing power coalitions and formal and
informal lines of influence and communication that radiate from these coalitions
-​ Where is the POWER?

THE POLITICAL ORGANIZATION


GOVERNMENT CORPORATION
Similarities ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ Differences
CENTRALIZED DECISION-MAKING BODY ​ ​ CONSENT
LEGITIMACY OF POWER ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ LIMITS
OFFICIALS DISTRIBUTE BENEFITS AND BURDENS ​ MOBILITY
MONOPOLY OF POWER

EMPLOYEE’S RIGHTS

A. RIGHT TO PRIVACY
➢The right of an individual to determine what, to whom, and how much information
about themselves shall be disclosed to others
➢Become vulnerable with the development of recent technologies (i.e. electronic and
computerized)
➢This is justified because of our interest we have in the protective and enabling
functions of privacy
➢3 Elements of Privacy
1. Relevance
2. Consent
3. Method

B. Right to Freedom of Conscience


➢Whistleblowing
– is an attempt by a member or former member of an organization to disclose
wrongdoing in or by the organization including violations of the law, fraud, health or
safety violations, bribery, or a potential or actual injury to the public

➢ Can be Internal (reported only o the higher-ups within the organization) or External
(reported to outside individuals or bodies)

➢ Morally justified when:


1. the wrong is clear
2. the wrong is serious
3. other methods to prevent the wrong have failed
4. it will prevent the wrong
➢ Is a moral obligation when:
1. when the person has the moral duty to prevent the wrong or the only person who can
prevent the wrong
2. the wrong involves serious harm to the society
C. RIGHT TO PARTICIPATE IN DECISIONS THAT AFFECT THEM
➢ Participative and Democratic Management
➢ Douglas McGregor’s Theory Y Model
– managers assume that employees want and can develop the capacity to accept
responsibility and can be trusted to find the best means for achieving these goals on
their own
➢ Raymond Miles’ Human Resources Model
– to improve decision-making and performance efficiency, direct participation of
employees must be involved since these employees have creative and responsive
abilities
➢ Rensis Likert’s System 3: Consultative & System 4: Participative
– responsibility is spread widely through the organizational hierarchy. High level of
teamwork, communication, & participation

D. Right to Due Process


➢The right to a fair process of decision making when decision makers impose
sanctions on employees
➢ Employment at Will
– the doctrine that employers “may dismiss their employees at will … for good cause,
for no cause, or even for causes morally wrong, without being thereby guilty of legal
wrong”
➢In the Philippines, employers can ONLY terminate their relationship with their
employee if there is a just and authorized cause

E. Right to Work
➢UNUDHR: “Everyone has the right to work, to free choice of employment, to just and
favorable conditions of work and to protection against unemployment”
➢Moral right to earn a living by working
➢Instrumental value – means to survival
➢Intrinsic value – development of ourselves as human beings

F. Right to Organize/ Form Unions


➢The right of the workers to associate with one another to establish and run a union
➢Derives from the same right owners have to join together to form a company
➢Unions have the right to strike

ORGANIZATIONAL POLITICS
POLITICAL TACTICS
1. Blaming or Attacking others
2. Controlling Information
3. Developing a Base of Support for One’s Ideas
4. Image Building 5. Ingratiation
6. Associating with the Influential
7. Forming Power Coalitions and Developing Strong Allies
8. Creating Obligations

APPROACHES TO THE ETHICS OF POLITICAL TACTICS


Utilitarian:
Are the goals one intends to achieve by using the tactics socially beneficial or socially
harmful? Rights:
Do the tactics employed treat others in a way that is consistent with their moral rights?
Justice:
Will the tactics lead to an equitable distribution of benefits and burdens?
Caring:
What impact will the tactics have on the web of relationships within the organization

THE CARING ORGANIZATION


CARING MODEL OF THE ORGANIZATION
✓Caring is focused entirely on persons, not on “profit” or “quality”
✓Caring is undertaken as an end in itself, not as a means to productivity
✓Caring is essentially personal
✓Caring is growth enhancing for those who receive care

PROBLEMS
o Caring too much for others can lead to BURNOUT
o Due to fatigue, self-interest, or disinterest
o Bureaucracy
o Employees as DISPOSABLE
o Rewards that encourage COMPETITIVENESS that leads to Productivity

Common questions

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Employee obligations to employers involve ethical considerations around loyalty, privacy, and the duty not to engage in conflicts of interest or theft. Conflict of interest arises when personal interests potentially compromise an employee's impartiality in their professional duties, necessitating transparency and ethical behavior to safeguard organizational integrity . Theft, including unauthorized use of trade secrets or digital information, breaches trust and may lead to significant harm both legally and competitively . Privacy rights pose ethical challenges as technological advances increase vulnerability, requiring careful balance between organizational needs and individual privacy . Ethical compliance promotes a trustworthy environment and aligns personal conduct with organizational values .

The caring model focuses on personal care rather than profits, suggesting that when organizations prioritize the well-being of their employees, it can lead to enhanced employee satisfaction and loyalty . This model fosters an environment that values individual growth, encouraging creative and cooperative work . However, excessive caring may lead to burnout, and balancing caring with organizational goals is essential to prevent fatigue and maintain effectiveness . Although initially reducing focus on profits, this approach may result in long-term gains as it cultivates an engaged workforce that may paradoxically increase productivity and profitability .

The TRAIN Law reformed the personal income tax by adjusting the tax rates and exemptions to make the system simpler and fairer . Before the TRAIN Law, the tax system had higher rates and a more complex structure, creating burdensome impacts on lower and middle-income earners . The updated tax table introduced larger exemptions, such as the 90,000 exempt benefits and options for self-employed individuals, reducing their tax burdens and increasing disposable income . By simplifying the system and focusing on fairness, the TRAIN Law aimed to address deficiencies like complexity and inequity, seeking to improve compliance and contribute to economic growth .

Political tactics like controlling information and forming power coalitions can significantly alter the ethical climate of an organization by fostering environments of manipulation and mistrust . While they can be used to achieve beneficial goals, they often lead to unequal information distribution and favoritism, undermining fairness and transparency in decision-making processes . This can create divisions among employees, hinder open communication, and result in unethical practices that prioritize individual or group power over organizational well-being, thus affecting the overall moral fabric and effectiveness of the organization .

The right to due process ensures fair treatment in employment decisions, aligning with modern practices that emphasize transparency and accountability . Participative decision-making, articulated in Douglas McGregor’s Theory Y and Raymond Miles’ Human Resources Model, reflects contemporary trends towards inclusive management that values employee contributions . These alignments promote a cooperative organizational culture, improve morale, and encourage innovation by involving employees in shaping policies that affect them . Such practices fit the shift towards flatter hierarchies and democratized workplaces where employee engagement is prioritized .

Inherent limitations of taxation, such as the non-delegation of the power to tax, exemption of government entities, and territorial jurisdiction, restrict the extent to which taxation can be applied, ensuring it remains within justifiable boundaries . Constitutional limitations further prevent potential abuse by requiring due process, limiting the President’s veto powers, and ensuring taxes serve a public purpose without infringing on religious freedoms or judicial review . Together, these limitations ensure that while taxation is necessary for state functions, it is kept in check to protect citizens' rights and prevent overreach by governmental authorities .

Employers face ethical challenges in balancing fair wages and working conditions with economic pressures to minimize costs . Fair wages are ethically imperative as they represent the primary means for employees to meet their economic needs . Employers need to uphold wage fairness while ensuring competitive pricing of their products, creating a tension where ethical considerations might clash with business strategies . Additionally, providing safe and healthy working conditions is a moral responsibility, as it directly affects employee well-being and aligns with the rights to health and safety . Employers' inaction, where improvement is possible and needed, can be ethically unjustifiable, reflecting a need for a strong moral commitment to rectify inadequate practices, balancing ethical imperatives with economic ones .

International comity restricts taxation by recognizing the territoriality principle where states must respect the legal and fiscal jurisdictions of other countries, preventing them from taxing non-residents or foreign entities arbitrarily . This principle is crucial for maintaining harmonious international relations, as it acknowledges and respects sovereignty while fostering cooperation in cross-border tax matters . It is significant in global financial relations as it reduces potential conflicts, encourages mutually beneficial treaties, and ensures that businesses and individuals operating internationally are not subject to double taxation or unpredictable legal challenges .

The fundamental principles of a sound tax system include fiscal adequacy, administrative feasibility, and equality/theoretical justice . Fiscal adequacy ensures that the tax system generates sufficient revenue to meet the government's expenditure needs, contributing to financial stability . Administrative feasibility states that taxes should be collected without excessive cost and difficulty, allowing for efficient tax administration . Equality/theoretical justice requires that taxes be levied based on the taxpayer's ability to pay, contributing to fairness and reducing inequality within the society . These principles collectively ensure that the tax system is effective, equitable, and easily manageable, facilitating compliance and meeting the government's fiscal policy objectives .

The TRAIN Law raised the VAT threshold from P1,919,500 to P3,000,000, providing relief to SMEs by exempting more transactions from VAT, which reduces administrative burdens and potential tax liabilities . This change supports business growth by allowing SMEs to reinvest savings into their operations . Additionally, adjustments to other percentage taxes further streamline compliance requirements for these entities . However, SMEs may face challenges if increases in excise taxes on inputs like petroleum result in higher operational costs, necessitating careful financial planning to mitigate impacts .

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