Posted on 11/11/2012 10:52:07 PM PST by granada
UK lawmakers will quiz executives of Starbucks, Google and Amazon on Monday about how they have managed to pay only small amounts of tax in Britain while racking up billions of dollars worth of sales here.
The Public Accounts Committee (PAC), which is charged with monitoring government financial affairs, has invited the companies to give evidence amid mounting public and political concern about tax avoidance by big international companies.
"It is hard for the ordinary person to believe it's fair," said Margaret Hodge, a member of parliament for the opposition Labour party and chairman of PAC.
"It makes people incredibly angry in the current fiscal climate," she added, in reference to the austerity measures which large budget deficits have forced on the UK, and other countries.
Britain and Germany last week announced plans to push the Group of 20 economic powers to make multinational companies pay their "fair share" of taxes following reports of large firms exploiting loopholes to avoid taxes.
A Reuters report last month showed that Starbucks had paid no corporation, or income, tax in the UK in the past three years.
The world's biggest coffee chain paid only 8.6 million pounds ($13.74 million) in total UK tax over 13 years during which it recorded sales of 3.1 billion pounds.
(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
Starbucks thinks it’s paying too much taxes in the US? Wait till they see what the Brits are going to soak them for.
A simplified tax system would be so much simpler for everyone. Much less need for large buraucracy.... oh, I think see the problem...
I know I shouldn’t. But I always enjoy it when these companies run by left-wing extremists get hit with huge tax bills or burdensome regulations.
They’re all fricken morons. Corporations don’t pay taxes. They collect them. The only thing any government official anywhere should be angry about, is that they’re too stupid to make laws they can enforce.
Let the governments all collect their own Stinking taxes. Then watch the cost be .$95 for every dollar collected.
Me too. However, Starbucks is part of my portfolio. Google I truly despise and hope the limeys take them to the cleaners.
yeap they all supported Obama on raising taxes. It is no wonder they don’t mind taxes going up. That is someone else problem not theirs
Wankers.
They live in a different financial universe?
Corporations don't pay increased taxes. Their customers do.
Is that the reason prices went up 14% Oct 16 (in the US?)
Since corporations are people, why shouldn’t they pay taxes, or did I misinterpret your message?
Supporters of the messiah rot in hell
I’d take it Starbucks has been collecting the VAT for them as well.
Corporations are not people, Soylent Green is.
Anyway, if you charge corporations taxes, the consumer pays the increase in the form of higher prices. That increase is paid with money that has already been taxed in the form of income. That is called inflation. The particularly odious kind of inflation, that leads to hyper-inflation.
Corporate taxes are nothing more than the government outsourcing extra taxes and forcing corporations to spend the money collecting them.
If an entity can’t vote, then it should not be taxed.
new tagline.
Then corporations should not have been declared people by the Supremes.
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