The BBC's reported:
Global coffee chain Starbucks has said it is in talks with HM Revenue and Customs and the Treasury over how much UK tax it pays.
It is one of several well-known firms that were criticised over the level of their corporation tax payments.
The firm admitted that it "needed to do more" in the UK on tax.
I call that a vacuous statement. I also call it contemptuous. After years of what looks like blatant tax avoidance to ensure almost no tax has been paid in this country what Starbucks seem to be doing for the sake of PR is asking if they can make a small tax contribution in future as if paying tax was the same as dropping a fiver into the church collection at Christmas and hoping that's enough to preserve your options on a route into heaven for the next year.
I sincerely hope H M Revenue & Customs tell Starbucks that paying corporation tax in the UK is not a voluntary charitable donations box arrangement when it comes to multinational corporations and that nothing less than paying the full tax owing will do. But as yet I'm not optimistic because I very largely share the Public Accounts Committee's view of HMRC's senior management when it comes to these issues, and I'm not expecting their report on HMRC to be too kind when it comes out in the morning.
To put it another way: keep up the boycott. One press release does not change the world. Starbucks need to learn that only the full amount of hard cash on the table will do that.
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Has Starbucks broken the law?I think not.’Blatant tax avoidance’is not illegal.Tolleys and morality are not bedfellows.
Couldn’t agree more, Mr Murphy. If these people need feedback from customers and employees to realise they should pay tax then their defence is the usual one; we can’t help it: we are moral imbeciles.
I am quite surprised by how poor their PR people are, though…
Could Starbucks be after a ‘negotiation’ (nudge nudge wink wink say no more squire so no more) whereby they will transfer a little less profit to Starbucks offshore from the UK and pay a little less tax offshore. And if they then adjust to pay a ‘little’ tax in the UK on the small but still artificially reduced profit for this country, could Starbucks Europe end up paying no more corporation tax overall in money terms than at present perhaps?
Yes
All surmises may be right
Though I expect the overall bill would rise
It’s easy really. Reduce Corporation tax to zero and increase income to compensate. Companies who now pay CT will see an increase in profits and better able to compete with companies not paying CT. The reduction in spending power, given the increased income tax, will cause prices to be reduced and living standards returning back to normal. This tax cannot so easily be avoided and those companies not currently paying CT will be penalised.
Ah, the proverbial “let’s shift the tax burden onto those least able to pay it argument”
Nice!
Some of us believe capital should be taxed
http://www.thedailymash.co.uk/news/business/tax-negotiable-2012120351605
Pretty much nails it I think