Petition calls out to Amazon to pay UK taxes

Instead of asking them to pay more petition the government to change the tax laws so that they have to pay more.
 
IMO nobody is going to appeal to Amazon's better nature by creating a internet petition, they pay what they legally have to, not a penny more.

The culprit in this is HMRC, there is a loophole there in the system, therefore it is going to be exploited by any creative accountant, the bigger the company the more creative they will be with avoidance, as you are talking millions in savings, the loophole needs to be closed, the only people that can do that is the current government, should they wish to.
 
Tax implications aside, they are also employing a huge number of people in the UK. The salaries that they pay those people make it back into our system too.
 
ci_newman said:
Tax implications aside, they are also employing a huge number of people in the UK. The salaries that they pay those people make it back into our system too.
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You are going down another possible route where we have zero corporation tax for all businesses and attract vast inward investment which could also work.
 
Moses said:
What if they're only making that profit in the UK because their European management team in Luxembourg is keeping the show on the road? Why can't that be taken into account? We live in a World were multinationals operate in many, many different countries - it's archaic to just deny that, and insist that operations in each country are treated separately, when they don't operate separately.
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Yes that should be taken into account, but Starbucks has paid £8.6m in corporation tax in its 14 years of trading in the UK, and nothing in the last three years. The company had UK sales of nearly £400m in 2011.

They have shops that run and trade in the UK and pay NOTHING in tax in the Uk, regardless of management teams in other countries and that is not correct.
 
I bought a camera not long ago and the first stop was to go into Jessops so that I could have a look at it and I was fully intending to buy it from there after being satisfied playing with the display model. I then asked the assistant in there what case would be a good fit for it, to which he replied that he didn't know. I then asked if I could test the display model in a couple of the cases in the shop to which he replied that he couldn't let me do that. So then I decided to take a gamble and just buy one of the cases anyway because it looked like it would fit OK, and asked for the camera as well. At this point I was told by the assistant that they didn't have any of them in the shop other than the display model. I said that I would take the display one if they would knock say £10 off the price to reflect that it has been on display and handled by people (it was a £200+ camera). I was then told that they couldn't do that either.

No sale for Jessops then, so I just went home and bought the camera from Amazon (it was about £2 cheaper). I was more than willing to do business with Jessops but they seemingly didn't want to do business with me. This is the sort of thing that is causing the death of high street shops, so I really have no sympathy for them anymore.
 
The way I see it, the public are all up for clamping down on tax avoidance, until they realize how it will effect them.

I.E When the gov tried to re-clarify food laws clamp down on companies like Greggs avoiding tax people went mental calling it a "pasty tax" (admittedly the media helped a lot with that).

If the likes of Amazon and Vodafone do end up paying more tax then they will simply pass the cost onto consumers like Greggs threatened to do, the more books at Amazon cost the more anywhere else that sells books can charge, the more Vodafone charge their customers the more 02/EE can.
 
francky said:
Yes that should be taken into account, but Starbucks has paid £8.6m in corporation tax in its 14 years of trading in the UK, and nothing in the last three years. The company had UK sales of nearly £400m in 2011.

They have shops that run and trade in the UK and pay NOTHING in tax in the Uk, regardless of management teams in other countries and that is not correct.
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Firstly sales does not equal profits and secondly they employ lots of people in most large towns and cities in this country - they all pay tax...

Its a bit like moaning about bankers bonuses - yes they are fairly extreme but I read they use to contribute about a quarter of the tax take in this country.
 
Moses said:
They pay the US parent for the rights to the intellectual property [a fair price is paid, because of the arm's length principle when it comes to transfer pricing] that's needed (fair, no, otherwise you're depriving the US of reasonable tax?), then they pay a Dutch subsidiary the market price [an objectively fair price, because of the arm's length principle when it comes to transfer pricing] for roasted coffee beans (fair, no, otherwise they'd be depriving the Dutch government of reasonable tax?). Then they reinvest UK profits in expanding the business (which creates more jobs, etc, which leads to more taxpayers and less benefit claimants - not a bad outcome, shirley?). Etc.

Starbucks UK basically pays as much tax as an entirely separate company would pay - if, for example, you set up a coffee shop and licensed the use of Starbucks brand/bought the same coffee/etc...
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If I started up a company in the UK....without the clout to be able to open up HQ's in tax haven's or negotiate with the Dutch goverment for a lower tax rate and then pay "a fair price" for coffee based on Arms Length Priciples to my sister company in Holand or pay for the intellectual property (transfering profits), I would have to pay 20% tax on any profit I made for that year.

We all know that they are avoiding tax, they are even voluteering to pay £10m a year in UK tax to please their customers, because they know what they are doing doesnt sit well with the people they make the money from.

Yes they give jobs to people in the Uk and thats great, but I do think that paying no tax what so ever, while shipping all your profit off to a sister company in royalties where the tax rate is lower is taking the micheal.
 
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jimjamuk said:
Firstly sales does not equal profits and secondly they employ lots of people in most large towns and cities in this country - they all pay tax...

Its a bit like moaning about bankers bonuses - yes they are fairly extreme but I read they use to contribute about a quarter of the tax take in this country.
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I know sales dont equal profits.....but on £400m turnover and with a profit margin that I would imagine is huge on coffee...paying £0 tax isnt quite right.

Im not moaning.....I dont actually care all that much, im just debating on the subject.

Our tax in this country is just wasted anyway.
 
francky said:
I know sales dont equal profits.....but on £400m turnover and with a profit margin that I would imagine is huge on coffee...paying £0 tax isnt quite right.

Im not moaning.....I dont actually care all that much, im just debating on the subject.

Our tax in this country is just wasted anyway.
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completely agree with you....

I guess that after rents / rates / employee costs (which will include employers NI) / utilities and then licensing costs that they manage to get that figure down quite easily so the CT bill is effectively zero
 
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