Ever wondered why the British High street is dying..

[BarriedaleNick]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-19967397

Starbucks 'paid just £8.6m UK tax in 14 years'. US coffee giant Starbucks reportedly paid just £8.6m in corporation tax in the UK over 14 years.

The four-month investigation by news agency Reuters also found the firm had paid nothing in the last three years.

How on earth can a local cafe compete with a massive global brand when the latter pays no tax.  They paid less tax than me over the last three years!!!

[BarriedaleNick]

[okra]

In April, a report in the Guardian said that online retailer Amazon had generated sales of more than £7.6bn in the UK over the past three years but had not paid any corporation tax on the profits from those sales. More trade taken from small independent traders.

[Digeroo]

A lot of people are using all sorts of methods to evade paying tax, it is time the loopholes were plugged.  What I do not understand why it has taken so long to change the rules about charges for produce licences held by tax havens.

I worked for a multinational once and they were moving products round the world trying to avoid import duties, and moving currency around the world as well.   These things have been going on for a very long time.

[kt.]

Yesterdays newspapers reported Google paid less than £6million from profits in excess of £150million.  Facebook paid even less from greater earnings.

[Digeroo]

There was a suggestion from an MP that we could vote with our feet and give small independant coffee shops a break.

[BarriedaleNick]

My nieghbours have started a nice little coffee shop on our high street and so far aren't doing too badly.  However we have no Costa or SB as we are a small London "village" - if one sets up they will be out of a business and we'll be left with less choice. 

[galina]

Call me a cynic, but I get the impression that there is a lot of talk about tightening tax loopholes for the big companies - but a lot of action spending less on the poor, ill and disabled who are easy targets. :-(

Voting with our feet and our purses is what we can do, I agree.

[bridgehouse]

I live in Shirley, Solihull, the Shirley high street has been allowed to die .why because we are having a new centre. with yet another big supermarket that no one wants, we allready have two Tesco. one Salisbury's, one Morrison's, one Aldi and small M/S food outlet all within a few miles of each other ,now Asda are putting in their oar. all the small shops have gone one by one.and the few that are left will die to . no wonder the high streets are dead. the high street etc have been overtaken by the giants
   June.

[Gordonmull]

There was a suggestion from an MP that we could vote with our feet

And indeed we should. This was a big part of why I started gardening, homebrewing, preserving and scavenging. Well, that and avoiding trolley rage. I warn you, if you shop in Grangemouth ASSDA, do not get in my way! :)

[Toshofthe Wuffingas]

Vodafone was let off a tax bill of billions by the decision of a single civil servant. See Private Eye for details, they have been covering it for years. And this is what happens when a group, UKUncut, tried to make companies pay taxes - surely a patriotic thing to do. They were held by police for hours and their mobile phones confiscated to get all their contacts details and friends. You say that companies need to pay the same taxes as ordinary people and you get classed as a terrorist. The 'deficit' is just a smokescreen to enact what the rich boys want. It could be paid off in short order if taxation was imposed fairly.