Starbucks facing boycott over tax: Protest groups threaten to try and close branches over revelations it hasn't paid for three years
- Fury over coffee giant's clever accounting techniques
- Contributed only £8.6m in 14 years despite making more than £3bn
Starbucks faces a boycott by thousands of customers who are angry over revelations that it has paid no tax in the UK for the past three years.
Outraged protest groups last night promised ‘direct action’ against the coffee giant and threatened to try to close some branches.
It came as pressure mounted on the Government to close the loopholes that allowed the company to escape making any contributions to Treasury coffers through corporation tax –despite raking in billions of pounds in sales.
Tax row: Coffeee giant Starbucks has paid only £8.6million in tax in 14 years of trading in Britain despite making more than £3billion in revenues
Taxpayers vented their anger on Twitter and threatened to switch allegiance to rival chain Costa. Dan Thompson, who led a clean-up after last year’s London riots, said: ‘Starbucks has paid no tax in last three years; the boycott starts today.’
Share this article
BBC commentator Andrew Neil said: ‘Google, Apple, Starbucks: Great companies yet none pays any/much tax in UK, despite doing huge business here. What is the Treasury doing about it?’
Storm in a coffee cup: Protesters are now planing 'creative direct action' against the company
Experts also warned that the actions of Starbucks put at risk thousands of independent coffee shops, which do pay corporation tax.
Starbucks last night insisted that it pays its ‘fair share’.
It has paid only £8.6million in tax in 14 years of trading in Britain.
In this time it made more than £3billion in revenues, and used clever accounting techniques to minimise its tax contributions.
It posted a UK loss of £33million on sales of £398million, which meant that it paid no corporation tax. It does pay VAT on in-store hot drinks.
Starbucks reduced its tax contribution in three key ways: By paying royalties to another division of the company; by buying coffee beans through a Swiss firm; and by funding its British division through loans which are charged at an unusually high interest rate, according to experts.
UK Uncut, which protests against corporate tax avoidance, is planing ‘creative direct action’ against the giant.
Anna Walker, from UK Uncut, said: ‘The latest revelations about Starbucks avoiding millions in tax are outrageous. But what is worse is the Government’s failure to lift a finger to make a real change in the law.’
The Government refused to say whether HMRC, which can claw back taxes from big companies that funnel profits overseas, would target Starbucks.
Tax accountant Richard Murphy, who worked on the investigation that brought the Starbucks figures to light, said the tax loopholes gave the giant a ‘wholly unjustifiable’ advantage over small businesses.
A Starbucks spokesman said: ‘We will continue to pay our fair share of taxes to the letter of the law as we always have.’
Most watched News videos
- New video shows Epstein laughing and chasing young women
- British Airways passengers turn flight into a church service
- Epstein describes himself as a 'tier one' sexual predator
- Skier dressed as Chewbacca brutally beaten in mass brawl
- Two schoolboys plummet out the window of a moving bus
- Buddhist monks in Thailand caught with a stash of porn
- Melinda Gates says Bill Gates must answer questions about Epstein
- Police dog catches bag thief who pushed woman to the floor
- Holly Valance is shut down by GB News for using slur
- Sarah Ferguson 'took Princesses' to see Epstein after prison
- JD Vance turns up heat on Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor
- China unveils 'Star Wars' warship that can deploy unmanned jets
