Starbucks UK Uncut Protest To Go Ahead Despite Corporation Tax Promise

'Offering To Pay Some Tax Doesn't Stop You Being A Tax Dodger'

Activist group UK Uncut are still planning to protest against Starbucks on Saturday, despite the coffee chain announcing it would pay corporation tax in Britain.

The US coffee firm agreed to pay "somewhere in the range of £10m" in corporation tax each year over the next two years, after reports the business paid just £8.6m over 14 years in Britain.

But UK Uncut spokesperson Hannah Pearce said the group, which has previously staged sit ins in Vodafone and Topshops over tax, would "keep up the pressure."

UK Uncut members are still planning to protest against Starbucks on Saturday

"Offering to pay some tax if and when it suits you doesn’t stop you being a tax dodger.

"Starbucks have been avoiding tax for over a decade and continue to deny that it paid too little tax in the past. Today’s announcement is just a desperate attempt to deflect public pressure.

"There’s no money yet, and hollow promises on press releases don’t fund women’s refuges or child benefits," she said.

"The £10 million that Starbucks have estimated they may end up paying is £5 million less than that paid by their nearest competitor Costa coffee.

"The announcement today will also still see Starbucks paying royalty fees to a subsidiary in the Netherlands where the company has a secret low rate tax deal, and buying coffee beans through the well known tax haven of Switzerland, even though coffee grows in the tropics not the Alps."

UK Uncut are planning a range of demonstrations across the country, centred around Starbucks, in protest to cuts to women's services. They argue if the coffee chain paid more tax, and if the government tackled avoidance, cuts to domestic violence services could be prevented.

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