Starbucks surrenders, agrees to pay more UK tax as Chancellor vows crackdown on tax avoidance by mul - Polidicks

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ay9q298vbUc[/media] [url]http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-20573208[/url] [quote=BBC News][B]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.[/B] 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. Meanwhile, Chancellor George Osborne has pledged more funds for the British authorities to tackle tax avoidance by multinationals. He told the BBC that an announcement would be made on Monday about the " extra investment in the part of the Inland Revenue that tackles tax avoidance by multinational companies". A Public Accounts Committee report on the topic of how much tax multinational firms pay in the UK is due on Monday. In November the committee took evidence from executives from Starbucks, Google and Amazon over the amount of tax the companies have paid in the UK. [B]'Competitive'[/B] "We have listened to feedback from our customers and employees, and understand that to maintain and further build public trust we need to do more," said a Starbucks statement. "As part of this we are looking at our tax approach in the UK. The company has been in discussions with HMRC for some time and is also in talks with The Treasury." It said more details would be released later this week. BBC business correspondent Theo Leggett said the coffee company reported sales of nearly £400m in the UK last year, but paid no corporation tax at all. "Much of the money it earns in this country is transferred to a sister company in the Netherlands in the form of royalty payments, leaving the UK division to report regular annual losses," he added. Mr Osborne did not single out any firms while making his announcement on the Andrew Marr Show. He also said that as well as his extra funding for the UK authorities, it was also necessary to work at an international level on the issue. "It is actually Britain who has been working with Germany and France to get those rules on the international table," he said. But he also warned against "pricing Britain out of the world economy", adding that "if we make our taxes less competitive that will just mean more companies stay out of Britain". Monday's PAC report is expected to be critical of the current way in which multinational firms used UK tax legislation. After last month's hearings, PAC chair Margaret Hodge MP said: "One of our concerns is that the ability of global companies to choose where they put their costs and their profits gives them an unfair tax advantage that damages UK-based businesses."[/quote]

Yeah, sure.

Fuck Starbucks and it's tax avoiding coffee, Neros is better anyway.

Good

i can finally think i'm better than everyone else and fuel my life on flat whites again with slightly less guilt

All of their drinks are overpriced to fuck

starbucks tastes like overpriced piss

They'll probably use this as an excuse to raise the prices of their drinks

[QUOTE=FlashFireSix;38675802]All of their drinks are overpriced to fuck[/QUOTE] um? no they're not. or at least no more so than every other coffee shop [IMG]http://filesmelt.com/dl/stopspreadinglies.PNG[/IMG] i'm not into defending people who dodge tax but the amount people lie and spread myths about certain companies just because they have an image that isn't liked is ridiculous

[QUOTE=EvilPengy;38675848]They'll probably use this as an excuse to raise the prices of their drinks[/QUOTE] Better fucking not, even though I don't drink there. If their prices are expensive already, increasing the prices further would be a big old fuck you to both the consumer and the government. Also, I had Starbucks once and I can safely say that their lattes are weak as piss. In fact, I'd go as far as to say that most of their coffees aren't real coffee at all; REAL coffee is strong and you can ACTUALLY TASTE THE FUCKING COFFEE.

[QUOTE=ChestyMcGee;38675912]um? no they're not. or at least no more so than every other coffee shop [IMG]http://filesmelt.com/dl/stopspreadinglies.PNG[/IMG] i'm not into defending people who dodge tax but the amount people lie and spread myths about certain companies just because they have an image that isn't liked is ridiculous[/QUOTE] what an incredibly vague chart

I heard on the radio that they acknowledge there was a problem and are looking into it. Because they obviously hadn't realised until now.

Wouldn't this be about the 5th "crackdown" on corporations not paying tax in the last 2 years?

[QUOTE=Bobie;38675982]what an incredibly vague chart[/QUOTE] They have different prices since most charges different amounts depending if you want to eat in or not

[QUOTE=Bobie;38675982]what an incredibly vague chart[/QUOTE] it's the prices of drinks in london with the smallest price possible (small drink) and the largest price possible (large drink) and whether or not you want to sit in or take-out, with some sort of average for a selection of independent places. only the last bit is vague and that's not the important bit

I get the feeling that their sales might have dropped, after it was made really clear in the media that Costa while making less profit paid their taxes in full. I just have this feeling that people might not be too happy spending money at a company that doesn't pay tax.

[QUOTE=ChestyMcGee;38675912]um? no they're not. or at least no more so than every other coffee shop [IMG]http://filesmelt.com/dl/stopspreadinglies.PNG[/IMG] i'm not into defending people who dodge tax but the amount people lie and spread myths about certain companies just because they have an image that isn't liked is ridiculous[/QUOTE] Where I live it's fucking £2-something for a hot chocolate that you can get cheaper everywhere else Where did you even get this chart?

[QUOTE=FlashFireSix;38676894]Where I live it's fucking £2-something for a hot chocolate that you can get cheaper everywhere else[/QUOTE] hot chocolate costs more than some coffees in most places. i dont know whether it actually costs more to make or whether companies enjoy the markup they can put on it [quote]Where did you even get this chart?[/quote] [URL="http://www.londontoolkit.com/blog/investigates/coffee-shop-chains-in-london/"]the chart was taken this year from a selection of different coffee shops in an expensive part of london[/URL] [editline]3rd December 2012[/editline] not the best evidence but it's better than anecdotal "starbucks sucks" reports

Same thing goes on all over Europe (and probably in the US/Asia aswell). Multinational corps channel all their money into tax havens and somehow gets away with it. Problem is it's fully legal, they use loopholes in the law. It's called "creative accounting".

[QUOTE=FlashFireSix;38676894]Where I live it's fucking £2-something for a hot chocolate that you can get cheaper everywhere else Where did you even get this chart?[/QUOTE] Yeah the starbucks near me is a hell of a lot more expensive than that chart. Can imagine them bumping up the price even more now

[QUOTE=demoguy08;38687900]Same thing goes on all over Europe (and probably in the US/Asia aswell). Multinational corps channel all their money into tax havens and somehow gets away with it. Problem is it's fully legal, they use loopholes in the law. It's called "creative accounting".[/QUOTE] The reason is because there is not a set legal precedent when it comes to international trade. Its a massive grey zone and Multinational Corporations love it to death.

[QUOTE=Swilly;38687939]The reason is because there is not a set legal precedent when it comes to international trade. Its a massive grey zone and Multinational Corporations love it to death.[/QUOTE] Grey areas should per automatic be considered black when it comes to money of THAT amount.