Multinational tax journalism: Devolved UK coverage of corporation tax rates in Scotland and Northern Ireland

Abstract

This article addresses how business and political journalists have covered transnational tax policy, an under-researched area. It analyses coverage of corporate taxation specifically where the power to decide on tax levels is devolved within a multinational state. The work considers how the UK press treated the plans to devolve and reduce corporation tax in Scotland and Northern Ireland, in the context of continued UK-wide reductions. A quantitative and qualitative content analysis illustrates that the sampled opinion and editorial framed around this issue was limited typically to the devolved territories’ ‘hybrid’ editions of the English/UK titles. This was despite the broader impact of varying rates on press readers in the rest of the United Kingdom. Journalists tended to adopt an ‘investor perspective’. A majority of commentary framed around corporation tax was focused on reducing the rate, while rarely considering the implications for government revenue. Nevertheless, importantly, Scottish coverage was bound up with broader political debates on independence.