Starbucks to finally pay up?

mirandashell

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Just seen on BBC News that Starbucks has agreed to pay £10 million quid over two years in corporation tax. And they say it's because of customer complaints. So the unofficial boycott worked?
 

waylander

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It would seem so. They are rather more susceptible to customer boycotting than Google or Amazon. You'll know real progress has been made when Amazon pay up.
 

Xelebes

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Hasn't worked all that much, the way I see it. They still get to siphon off all their cash off the shores and give the dog a bone with a mealy-mouthed my-bad.
 

mirandashell

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They're not really accused of anything because legally they haven't done anything wrong. They basically make a shit load of money in this country but don't declare any profit here. And therefore pay no tax on it.

And a lot of people here feel that's morally wrong and stopped buying their coffee. And as Waylander said, Starbucks are far more vulnerable to that. So it's more of a goodwill gesture than anything else.
 

crunchyblanket

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They're not really accused of anything because legally they haven't done anything wrong. They basically make a shit load of money in this country but don't declare any profit here. And therefore pay no tax on it.

While paying their staff minimum wage.

I agree that getting Amazon, Google and Apple to cough up would be a great deal more impressive.

This country amazes me. We squeeze benefits and decry those who claim them as scroungers, yet our tax system is so full of holes that companies can walk free with billions of pounds in unpaid tax...
 

waylander

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As Miranda said, Starbucks have huge turnover in the UK, but apparently (according to the accounts they've field with the Revenue) make no profit so pay no tax. Now if this were really true then they would be shutting outlets. They're not, new Starbucks are still springing up in towns across the country. What they've done is, like many multi-nationals, arrange things so that their subsidiary in Luxembourg supplies branding, rights and stuff - for which their UK arm pays a load of money which wipes out their profit - so that they make their profit there. The reason - they pay a much lower rate of tax in Luxembourg.
 

benbradley

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Sorry, I missed this one.

What exactly is Starbuck's accused of??

(And quite ironically, I am in a Starbuck's at this very moment! ;) )
Let me expand on this:

Link, please?

Normally I'd go to some random search engine, but this is the first I've heard of this too, and I'm feeling snarky...
 

Priene

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I don't understand how Starbucks gets to decide whether it pays tax or not. My company (turnover: two-thirds of five-eighths of fuck-all pounds sterling) doesn't seem to be allowed this luxury.
 

waylander

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You don't employ a team of fancy tax lawyers.