UK Lawmakers To Grill Starbucks, Amazon And Google On Tax

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TRICK or TREAT!!! Give us more tax money!

A UK parliamentary committee has invited executives from Starbucks Corp, Google Inc and Amazon.com Inc to answer questions about their tax practices, which allow them to make significant sales in the UK, but pay little tax here.
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J3RK said:
They should just pull out of those markets. :D :p
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lol, You serious.

Starbucks had paid only 8.6 million pounds of income taxes on 3.1 billion pounds of sales since 1998,

Jesus its not like the UK government is after a massive amount of tax but anything over whatever small percentage that is..

And really Steve try to word your post so its a bit less bias and actually read news articles what Google Amazon and Starbucks have done here is huge tax doge that NONE can defend.

No the UK government is not trying to milk your precious company.... It just wants some fair tax.

Really people read things
 
masteve said:
lol, You serious.

Starbucks had paid only 8.6 million pounds of income taxes on 3.1 billion pounds of sales since 1998,

Jesus its not like the UK government is after a massive amount of tax but anything over whatever small percentage that is..

And really Steve try to word your post so its a bit less bias and actually read news articles what Google Amazon and Starbucks have done here is huge tax doge that NONE can defend.

No the UK government is not trying to milk your precious company.... It just wants some fair tax.

Really people read things
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This is the only reason these companies over there.

If you increase the taxes they have no reason to leave the US.

Or just pass the cost on to European customers which is usually what they do.
 
siliconnerd said:
I really wish the US government would grow some balls and do the same.
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I know...we need to tax the shit out of all businesses to pay for our entitlements. I mean 2.5 trillion in federal revenue...another 1 trillion in state revenues and how much other taxes which amount to $13k per person just isn't enough! We need moar! Give more!
 
How does this even make sense? They are public companies. Their finances are available to anyone. On top of that, they file with the government who then gets to review their documents. The government already knows how they do it, they've already told them.
 
masteve said:
lol, You serious.

Starbucks had paid only 8.6 million pounds of income taxes on 3.1 billion pounds of sales since 1998,

Jesus its not like the UK government is after a massive amount of tax but anything over whatever small percentage that is..

And really Steve try to word your post so its a bit less bias and actually read news articles what Google Amazon and Starbucks have done here is huge tax doge that NONE can defend.

No the UK government is not trying to milk your precious company.... It just wants some fair tax.

Really people read things
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Exactly, who needs starbucks? If they don't pay tax what use are they, something else will pop up in its place like a Mom and Pop coffee house that won't have the resources needed to do such massive tax dodging.
 
I would tell them those parliamentarians to go fuck themselves and to stay out of my companies pockets. Only an idiot would talk to a parliamentarian about taxation.
 
matteos said:
Exactly, who needs starbucks? If they don't pay tax what use are they, something else will pop up in its place like a Mom and Pop coffee house that won't have the resources needed to do such massive tax dodging.
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Any company should by obligation dodge as much taxation as possible.
 
Methadras said:
Any company should by obligation dodge as much taxation as possible.
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That's BS, why should they dodge taxation? They should pay up their fair share like everyone else, it costs regular people money in taxes for the government to chase these people down. If any of us dodged this much taxation we'd probably get jailed, why should it be different for corporations? remember that they have the rights of people... with rights come responsibilities...
 
Methadras said:
Any company should by obligation dodge as much taxation as possible.
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this is part of the reason why the US (and most other economies) are in the toilet

its like you and your friends going to a restaurant, and everyone fighting over the bill of $500 for 10 of you, and each of you going 'i only got $5 worth'
 
haha...that's how they will fund their socialist life styles , pitiful EU , Germany wishes they never signed onto that dumbazz freight train to the cesspool
 
BloodDonor said:
this is part of the reason why the US (and most other economies) are in the toilet

its like you and your friends going to a restaurant, and everyone fighting over the bill of $500 for 10 of you, and each of you going 'i only got $5 worth'
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the U.S. government is run by leftists, leftist democrats have been in charge of Congress for the majority of the last 75 years , have you been paying attention?
 
moar.jpg.html
Sums up most governments and unfortunately the companies who are dodging taxes ... talking about choosing the lesser of two really big evils :eek:
 
Is it just me, or do people lose their sensibility here when Apple, taxes, or global warming is discussed?
 
IMHO it is every companies' obligation to maximize their profits. Whether that means cutting costs, or minimizing taxes. I don't know if they are dodging taxes in the UK or just using the loopholes available to them like any company would do if they had the resources.
 
Pylon said:
Is it just me, or do people lose their sensibility here when Apple, taxes, or global warming is discussed?
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Because everything can be fixed by "responsibility, budgeting, and cutting waste." Heaven forbid we raise taxes. RESPONSIBILITY! Government is always wrong (except to keep the 'net neutral), taxes are always bad and libertarianism 4 ever.
 
If I understood the situation correctly, its not about raising taxes, its about making sure the companies pay what they are supposed to.
 
masteve said:
lol, You serious.

Starbucks had paid only 8.6 million pounds of income taxes on 3.1 billion pounds of sales since 1998,

Jesus its not like the UK government is after a massive amount of tax but anything over whatever small percentage that is..

And really Steve try to word your post so its a bit less bias and actually read news articles what Google Amazon and Starbucks have done here is huge tax doge that NONE can defend.

No the UK government is not trying to milk your precious company.... It just wants some fair tax.

Really people read things
Click to expand...

You'll have to excuse my fellow Americans as they have "Election Blinders" on. It's not like this practice is limit to those three companies, do a search for Dutch Sandwich and the Double Irish, but tax avoidance is somehow an expression of one's freedom. And you know corporations are people too, so they do it as well.
 
Pylon said:
Is it just me, or do people lose their sensibility here when Apple, taxes, or global warming is discussed?
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They lose their sensibility here when an American company is under scrutiny, regardless of whether it's actually justified or not.

It's all the fault of those socialite europeans and their backward ways.... right?
 
masteve said:
lol, You serious.

Starbucks had paid only 8.6 million pounds of income taxes on 3.1 billion pounds of sales since 1998,

Jesus its not like the UK government is after a massive amount of tax but anything over whatever small percentage that is..

And really Steve try to word your post so its a bit less bias and actually read news articles what Google Amazon and Starbucks have done here is huge tax doge that NONE can defend.

No the UK government is not trying to milk your precious company.... It just wants some fair tax.

Really people read things
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Never go full retard. Large businesses are audited every year by tax authorities, there are no exceptions. Its not like with your tax submission, where there is a chance you can flub the numbers and never get busted.

A good business, any business, should be expected to submit their taxes legally and done to minimize their tax burden. This is common sense, and anyone would be fired if they paid more taxes than they were legally required to.

These businesses are far too large to have committed tax fraud since 1998 without the government noticing in every annual audit.

So the businesses don't have to answer for JACK SHIT, and if insufficient taxes are paid then the government needs to audit themselves and put themselves on the spot as to why their laws are broken. That means some government officials need to be grilled, and if they are incompetent, then fired.

Instead they go asking for handouts, when most likely the businesses were GIVEN all these tax incentives in the first place to attract them to the country because of all the jobs and revenue it brings to their economy. That happens with Walmarts here in the US in small towns for example, as the towns really do grow more quickly once they have established an infrastructure, and a large warehouse style store making general goods easily available is part of that so sometimes they are promised as much as ten years tax free.
 
Ducman69 said:
Never go full retard. Large businesses are audited every year by tax authorities, there are no exceptions. Its not like with your tax submission, where there is a chance you can flub the numbers and never get busted.

A good business, any business, should be expected to submit their taxes legally and done to minimize their tax burden. This is common sense, and anyone would be fired if they paid more taxes than they were legally required to.

These businesses are far too large to have committed tax fraud since 1998 without the government noticing in every annual audit.

So the businesses don't have to answer for JACK SHIT, and if insufficient taxes are paid then the government needs to audit themselves and put themselves on the spot as to why their laws are broken. That means some government officials need to be grilled, and if they are incompetent, then fired.

Instead they go asking for handouts, when most likely the businesses were GIVEN all these tax incentives in the first place to attract them to the country because of all the jobs and revenue it brings to their economy. That happens with Walmarts here in the US in small towns for example, as the towns really do grow more quickly once they have established an infrastructure, and a large warehouse style store making general goods easily available is part of that so sometimes they are promised as much as ten years tax free.
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Exactly ... these governments pass tax laws that the companies must comply with ... it is not the company's fault if the government defines the laws in such a way that multinational companies are able to minimize the amount of tax they pay

The other tricky part is they are picking on multinational companies ... the tax situation for a multinational is always tricky ... you only want to pay taxes on your revenue once so there is always some fancy footwork to ensure that the tax revenues are paid somewhere ... however, for multinationals the majority of that tax burden may not fall in the jurisdiction where the revenue is earned ... it is totally dependent on how the country structures its tax laws and the exemptions for imports and multinationals

This appears to be primarily an attempt to grab attention by the government since they are calling such high profile foreign companies to testify ;)
 
RedSh1rt said:
They lose their sensibility here when an American company is under scrutiny, regardless of whether it's actually justified or not.
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'MURIKA F YEAH!!!!

Perfect example right here:
Killahurtz said:
haha...that's how they will fund their socialist life styles , pitiful EU , Germany wishes they never signed onto that dumbazz freight train to the cesspool
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One cannot roll their eyes hard enough at such spouts of ignorance and xenophobia :rolleyes:
 
The UK is really becoming a pain in the ass. We need to build a fence or something.

Oh, wait...

:)
 
Steve said:
TRICK or TREAT!!! Give us more tax money!
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UK: Come CEO's - gather around a campfire and let's discuss some things. Topics include loss of revenue, decrease in customers, and increasing your costs :p

Facepalm, UK is retarded about shit like this.
 
TheWeazmeister said:
You'll have to excuse my fellow Americans as they have "Election Blinders" on. It's not like this practice is limit to those three companies, do a search for Dutch Sandwich and the Double Irish, but tax avoidance is somehow an expression of one's freedom. And you know corporations are people too, so they do it as well.
Click to expand...

Simple question: Why is it that everyone looks down on making all the deductions you can? Call it a loophole if it makes you feel more secure, but it is LEGAL. Uncle Sam will happily take a bigger number on the check, but it's just tossing dollars out of your own pocket. Do you randomly toss dollars out of your car window on a freeway?

It's absolutely stupid. People point the finger at corporations (and Mitt Romney) - and it's despicable and retarded to boot. If you want tax reform, bitch to the government to do a god damn tax reform. I won't argue against that one bit - but complaining that corporations are using the tax code as it is legally - is stupid.
 
Christ a lot of you make being dense rather easy looking, you should actually try and understand the issue and secondly see how much you would like it if it was happening in your own country.

If you take Starbucks it is in essence getting the UK business to buy various aspects of the required infrastructure, stock, etc from other parts of its business which often reside in other European countries with lower corporation tax rates. So as a example the UK business can only buy its beans from Starbucks and thus they can effect how much is paid for that, in essence it like the other aspects gives the company the ability to convert possible UK profits in to costs to be converted by another section in to profits again.

This has caused a bit of an issue because apart from legally avoiding paying the UK any tax it means those home grown businesses are at a disadvantage not just from having to fight a multi national but also that the costs are higher for them since they do have to pay the tax required.
 
... And in other news, a recent study of businesses and individuals found out that, surprisingly, people do not like paying taxes. When asked about the study, several politicians were positively aghast at the notion. "It's unpatriotic!" cried one. "Don't these people understand that we know better what to do with that money than they do?" Another remarked, "Who cares what they like? As long as we hold a majority we're going to tax their asses off. If they don't like paying [taxes] they can quit their jobs and go on welfare. If you want to have stuff you've got to pay up for the privilege." A third, under condition of anonymity, had a different take. "We've always known this, but what can you do? The government is so bloated with useless programs and overpaid bureaucrats that 90% of all tax money is wasted. We're always running a deficit, and we could fix it if we could cut entitlements, but to get re-elected you can't ever say you'll take away someone's free lunch. It's gimme gimme gimme with these people. God forbid someone would make them get off their asses and actually work for a living. The ones who are working are the ones we have to raise taxes on because they're the only ones that are productive."

:rolleyes:
 
BloodDonor said:
this is part of the reason why the US (and most other economies) are in the toilet

its like you and your friends going to a restaurant, and everyone fighting over the bill of $500 for 10 of you, and each of you going 'i only got $5 worth'
Click to expand...

Not a history buff are you? The Boston Tea party was because of unjust taxation. Raising taxes isn't the solution, cutting spending is. These companies aren't cheating any system. They are using the laws put in place by the government. Those laws just happen to be written by hypocrite law makers that make the laws so they can"dodge" paying taxes, but expect everyone else to.
It's no surprise that the UK government need more tax revenue. They have the largest welfare family in the world a.k.a. The British Royal Family.
 
Cyraxx said:
Simple question: Why is it that everyone looks down on making all the deductions you can? Call it a loophole if it makes you feel more secure, but it is LEGAL. Uncle Sam will happily take a bigger number on the check, but it's just tossing dollars out of your own pocket. Do you randomly toss dollars out of your car window on a freeway?

It's absolutely stupid. People point the finger at corporations (and Mitt Romney) - and it's despicable and retarded to boot. If you want tax reform, bitch to the government to do a god damn tax reform. I won't argue against that one bit - but complaining that corporations are using the tax code as it is legally - is stupid.
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Absolutely correct. Riddle me this though, of the companies (not entities) that spend money lobbying, where do you think they stack up on the tax payments ladder. Little hint, the ones that spend the most lobbying are usually some of the biggest tax "shelterers." Don't even get me start on the capitol repatriating that was done in the name of "jobs" which didn't do anything except line people's pockets.

Your argument is absolutely stupid, if I may quote you, as it takes letter of the law to fruition (the part they manipulated with their lobbying) but ignores the intent of the law completely on semantics. Tax loopholes exist, they need to get closed, get over it, whether here or abroad.
 
TheWeazmeister said:
Absolutely correct. Riddle me this though, of the companies (not entities) that spend money lobbying, where do you think they stack up on the tax payments ladder. Little hint, the ones that spend the most lobbying are usually some of the biggest tax "shelterers." Don't even get me start on the capitol repatriating that was done in the name of "jobs" which didn't do anything except line people's pockets.

Your argument is absolutely stupid, if I may quote you, as it takes letter of the law to fruition (the part they manipulated with their lobbying) but ignores the intent of the law completely on semantics. Tax loopholes exist, they need to get closed, get over it, whether here or abroad.
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Your argument is absolutely stupid. Once again, you're blaming the corporations for lobbying - however lobbying doesn't mean they get what they want. Someone in the government is who makes the call. So once again, quit pointing the finger at corporations, and point it at the source that can actually sign the documents into law :rolleyes:

I already said it - but go ahead and get congress to pass a tax reform closing what people such as yourself deem a "loophole" even though it is certainly legal. But once again, you're pointing the finger in the wrong direction - and spoken like a true liberal. Evil corporations BAD, government intervention, GOOD.
 
Cyraxx said:
Your argument is absolutely stupid. Once again, you're blaming the corporations for lobbying - however lobbying doesn't mean they get what they want. Someone in the government is who makes the call. So once again, quit pointing the finger at corporations, and point it at the source that can actually sign the documents into law :rolleyes:

I already said it - but go ahead and get congress to pass a tax reform closing what people such as yourself deem a "loophole" even though it is certainly legal. But once again, you're pointing the finger in the wrong direction - and spoken like a true liberal. Evil corporations BAD, government intervention, GOOD.
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LOL, watching a bit too much FoxNews and not spending enough time doing reading comprehension. I certainly didn't blame corporations but they are "gaming" the system. The fact that GM, MS, Google, and various other corporations are spending millions of dollars and block campaign reform at any point with their lobbying doesn't bother you? Kudos to you, please resume living in la-la land.

Incidentally if you want to "insult" me you gotta do better than your half-ass "liberal" comment. Liberals got women the right to vote. Liberals got African Americans the right to vote. Liberals created social security. Liberals ended segregation. Yeah...I am ok with being called a "liberal," even being a registered Republican.
 
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