Rogers 2014 Annual Report Download - page 70

MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS
Environmental responsibility
• Energy Use and Climate Change Mitigation: To monitor and reduce
our energy consumption, we regularly assess our climate change
risks, annually measure our carbon footprint and implement climate
change solutions. We recently established corporate environmental
targets to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions by 25% and energy
consumption by 10% from 2011 levels by 2025.
• Paper Reduction: We encourage employees to reduce their paper
consumption through different initiatives, work with suppliers to
ensure responsible paper sourcing, production and recycling, and
provide our customers with paperless options.
• Recycling and Waste Management: We look for opportunities to
avoid waste generation, and run programs to recycle and reuse
materials to ensure we handle the waste we produce responsibly. In
2014, we expanded our Get-up and Get Green program by
providing centralized garbage receptacles and eliminating garbage
bins at employees’ work stations at some of our larger office
buildings to reduce our office waste.
Community investment
• Strong and Vibrant Communities: We stand by the principles of
good corporate citizenship, committing at least 1% of our net
earnings before taxes each yeartocharitiesandnon-profit
organizations. In 2014, Rogers provided over $70 million in cash
and in-kind donations to support various organizations and causes.
Through Rogers Youth Fund, we support education programs for at-
risk youth offered by Boys & Girls Clubs and local non-profit
organizations across Canada. In addition for over 30 years, we’ve
funded $400 million in Canadian productions to promote and
advance our Canadian culture in broadcasting, literature and the
arts. The Jays Care Foundation also works to ensure children in
need make positive life choices through programs that support
physical activity, education and life-skill development.
• Employee Community Involvement: We support our employees
and their community activities through the Rogers Employee
Volunteer Program, which gives them the opportunity to volunteer
for one paid day each year.
Economy and society
• Economic Development and Impact: We support the communities
where we operate by providing employment opportunities, paying
taxes, engaging in public policy dialogue and maintaining a strong
business that provides dividends to our shareholders.
• Supply Chain Management: We work with close to 30,000 suppliers
across Canada and internationally. Through the policies and
framework that support our supply chain standards and ethical
procurement, including our Supplier Code of Conduct, we set out
high standards for any vendor that does business with us.
See our annual Corporate Social Responsibility report on our website
(rogers.com/csr) for more about our social, environmental and
community contributions and performance.
INCOME TAX AND OTHER GOVERNMENT PAYMENTS
We proactively manage our tax affairs to enhance Rogers’ business
decisions and optimize after-tax free cash flow available for investment
in our business and shareholder returns. We have established
comprehensive policies and procedures to ensure we are compliant
with all tax laws and reporting requirements, including filing and
making all requisite income and sales tax returns and payments on a
timely basis. As a part of this process, we maintain open and
cooperative relationships with revenue authorities to minimize audit
effort and reduce tax uncertainty while engaging with government
policy makers on taxation matters that impact Rogers and its
shareholders, employees, customers and other stakeholders.
Income tax payments
Rogers total income tax expense of $506 million in 2014 is close to the
expense computed on its accounting income at the statutory rate of
26.5%. Cash income tax payments totaled $460 million in 2014. Cash
incometaxpaymentscandifferfromthetaxexpenseshownonthe
financial statements for various reasons, including timing of payments.
Our cash income tax is lower than our tax expense principally because
of the significant capital investment Rogers continues to make in our
wireless and broadband telecommunications network throughout
Canada. Similar to tax systems throughout the world, Canadian tax
laws generally permit these capital expenditures to be deducted for
tax more quickly than they are depreciated for financial statement
recognition purposes.
Other government payments
In addition to paying income tax on the profits we earn, we contribute
significantly to Canadians by paying the following taxes and fees to
federal, provincial and municipal governments:
• various taxes on the salaries and wages we pay (payroll taxes) to
approximately 27,000 employees;
• property and business taxes;
• unrecoverable sales taxes and custom duties; and
• broadcast, spectrum and other regulatory fees.
66 ROGERS COMMUNICATIONS INC. 2014 ANNUAL REPORT