Large Corps No Pay the U.K. — Promises Fly

UK lawmakers seek end to corporate tax avoidance

British lawmakers slam Amazon, Google, Starbucks for ‘immoral’ tax avoidance schemes

– British lawmakers on Monday accused major multinational companies including Starbucks, Google and Amazon of immoral tax avoidance, while Starbucks announced it is reviewing its British tax practices in a bid to restore public trust.

Parliament’s public accounts committee said the government should “get a grip” and clamp down on multinationals that exploit tax laws to move profits generated in Britain to offshore domains.

“Global companies with huge operations in the U.K., generating significant amounts of income, are getting away with paying little or no corporation tax here,” said Labour legislator Margaret Hodge, who chairs the all-party committee. “This is outrageous and an insult to British businesses and individuals who pay their fair share.”

…  executives from the three companies had been “unconvincing and, in some cases, evasive” when they appeared before the committee last month to explain their tax regimes. And she accused Britain’s tax agency of being “way too lenient” in dealing with multinationals.

“All three companies accepted that profits should be taxed in the countries where the economic activity that drives those profits takes place,” the lawmakers’ report said.

“However, we were not convinced that their actions, in using the letter of tax laws both nationally and internationally to immorally minimize their tax obligations, are defensible.”