8 December 2012 Last updated at 08:07 ET
Danni Wright, UK Uncut: “Starbucks should be paying the appropriate amount”
Tax avoidance campaigners say they are protesting at Starbucks cafes across the UK, despite the firm’s pledge to pay millions of pounds of extra corporation tax for the next two years.
The organisers, UK Uncut, say the coffee company’s promise to pay £20m is “a desperate attempt to deflect public pressure” from itself.
Starbucks said it had offered to meet protesters to “discuss their concerns”.
Starbucks’ “flagship” store in central London was said to be virtually empty.
UK Uncut said it was also highlighting the impact of government cuts on women, and planned to transform at least 40 Starbucks stores into “refuges, crèches and homeless shelters”.
BBC political correspondent Ben Geoghegan said the Starbucks “flagship” store in Conduit Street, central London, had been “virtually empty” following protests.
He said about 60 or so protesters were now thought to be heading to another Starbucks branch nearby.
UK Uncut said it had already heard from demonstrators gathering at ten outlets in London, Birmingham, Oxford and Nottingham.
Staff at the coffee chains were not being targeted, they added.
‘Tip of the iceberg’
UK Uncut spokeswoman Anna Walker said: “What Starbucks has done is offer a £20m PR stunt that’s coming straight out of their marketing budget.
“They haven’t offered or committed in any way to change the way they deal with their tax affairs in the UK or globally.”
“Starbucks is the tip of the iceberg when it comes to multinational companies tax avoidance – what we want to do is see the government clamping down on tax avoidance in a very real way.”
She added the government’s failure to recoup tax from such companies was leading to harmful austerity.
In a statement, a Starbucks spokesperson said: “Our highest priority is and remains the safety of our customers and employees. We trust that UK Uncut will respect it.
“We offered to meet with UK Uncut to discuss their concerns and make the protest a safe event for all involved. This invitation remains open.”
It added the company had “listened to our customers” and was “making a number of changes in our business to ensure we pay corporation tax in the UK” – something it urged UK Uncut and other concerned parties to “carefully consider”.
‘Unprecedented’
On Thursday, Starbucks revealed it would pay “a significant amount of tax during 2013 and 2014 regardless of whether the company is profitable during these years”.
The company has faced increasing public anger over its tax affairs, with some calling for a boycott of its outlets.
The company paid just £8.6m in corporation tax in its 14 years of trading in the UK, and nothing in the last three years – despite UK sales of nearly £400m in 2011.
Starbucks now says it expects to pay around £10m in corporation tax for each of the next two years, a move described by tax experts as unprecedented.
Speaking to BBC Radio 4′s Today programme, Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury David Gauke said HM Revenue and Customs must deal with all tax payers even-handedly.
He said: “If a taxpayer wants to pay more than is required under the law then that is really a matter for them. It’s a voluntary donation really rather than tax.”
BBC News – Business
Starbucks tax protest ‘under way’
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