CEOs recognise complex tax challenges as top risk to growth Tax risk and the related business considerations have been slowly moving up the leadership agenda in recent years ― in the most recent KPMG CEO Outlook pulse check, tax moved up to number two in the list of barriers to growth identified by CEOs. This trend was especially prevalent among French, German, Japanese and US companies. My view is that the concerns stem from a confluence of factors. The impending potential reform in the US, the uncertain global taxation environment, especially in light of still unresolved issues surrounding the taxation of digital companies, the likelihood of the EU legislating country-by-country transparency, new cross border taxes to capture carbon leakage and the likely increase in taxes as COVID-19 stimulus tapers (as evidenced in the UK), all combine to create a complex environment with which CEOs need to grapple.