What should be done about corporate tax evasion?

[noneofyourbiz3]

Like I said liquidate a couple and I assure you the rest will do what they are supposed to and thats pay their share. The stockholders will get the message and turn the screws.
If your holding stock in a company that is doing this you can flame down with them.
Fines dont work but finishing them may. Worth a shot.
As far as the unemployed. Well maybe we can hold off on some chinese labor for a while and just hire canadians.

[grammafreddy]

In England?

[sooperphreek]

starbucks is an international company. in this case they are taking advantage of england yes. but the culture in management that rides the razors edge of tax evasion is in every country they are in.

[grammafreddy]

Is Starbucks importing Chinese workers to Canada? I don't go to Starbucks so I don't know. Does some little Chinese teenager serve you your morning coffee and danish?

[noneofyourbiz3]

Is Starbucks importing Chinese workers to Canada? I don't go to Starbucks so I don't know. Does some little Chinese teenager serve you your morning coffee and danish?

No but they do use prison labor. How many I am not sure.
http://www.november.org/stayinfo/breaki ... bucks.html

[Jonrox]

Most people use every trick/rule in the book to avoid paying as much personal income tax as possible. I know that I wouldn't willingly pay more than I have to. Why does anyone expect a company to not do the same?

If it's found that they're guilty of tax evasion, they'll be fined appropriately. If they're taking advantage of opportunities in tax laws, then they aren't doing anything that most of us wouldn't do as well.

[Veovis]

If a loophole is found it should be closed, or fixed to be in line with the intent of it's reason for being there. Actual tax evasion? Well that's already a crime.

As for liquidating Starbucks assets? Isn't that essentially what the entire company does? They have a large asset (coffee beans) and they liquidate it every day. Then the money is given to the shareholders.

[Captain Awesome]

Some people just can't wrap their heads around the fact that some companies - like Starbucks - even though is widely successful some years just doesn't make any money to pay taxes on. Sometimes for a number of years. You can write off capital investments over a number of years - and even though the company is making money, on paper it will be losing money. Or you can write off previous years' losses for a number of years - same thing. But just because they're big and famous doesn't automatically make them a money printing factory.

[noneofyourbiz3]

^ahhahaha.

[SurplusElect]

Some people just can't wrap their heads around the fact that some companies - like Starbucks - even though is widely successful some years just doesn't make any money to pay taxes on.

Starbucks told MPs it had made a loss for 14 of the 15 years it has operated in the UK, making just a small profit in 2006. In its report the committee said it found that claim "difficult to believe" and said it was "inconsistent" with claims the company was making about its success to shareholders.

Curious as to what was told to the shareholders and why they didn't shut places down after - 10 years? 12?

"So we've operated for 13 years at a loss in the UK - but year 14 will be Starbucks's year as long as you keep your money with us".

[Captain Awesome]

Curious as to what was told to the shareholders and why they didn't shut places down after - 10 years? 12?

I don't own shares of Starbucks, so I wouldn't know. But it's somewhat expected when company starts a new venture in another country (Starbucks entered UK market in 1998) that the first few years are losing years, and profit only comes after certain time period. Just like any other business, really...

[kompili]

Good read from the President of Starbucks
http://news.starbucks.com/article_displ ... cle_id=709

[Captain Awesome]

Good read from the President of Starbucks
http://news.starbucks.com/article_displ ... cle_id=709

That's a very good read, indeed. Howard Schultz is an extraordinary man and always willing to be open about his business.

I actually have had the pleasure of meeting him once and speaking briefly, but he left a fantastic impression on me as a businessman.

[sooperphreek]

an update on the starbucks lax tax in england.

http://news.uk.msn.com/uk/activists-tar ... cks-stores

Anti tax avoidance activists have staged protests at more than 50 Starbucks stores to complain about the coffee chain's tax arrangements.

UK Uncut said it was the most widespread day of action it had ever held, showing the depth of anger at the scale of tax avoidance by some large companies.

The demonstrations went ahead in cities including London, Glasgow, Belfast, Liverpool, Sheffield and Portsmouth even though the US giant announced changes to its tax payments.

Starbucks said it expects to pay around £10 million in UK corporation tax for each of the next two years, following the revelation that it paid just £8.6 million in 14 years of trading in Britain and nothing in the last three years.

UK Uncut said it had "transformed" Starbucks stores into refuges, creches and homeless shelters to highlight the tax issues as well as the effect of Government cuts on women. There was a police presence at many of the protests, with some of the demonstrators told to report to a police station within seven days. There were two arrests in London.

A UK Uncut spokesman said: "It has been an overwhelming success, sending a clear message to the government as well as to huge corporations."

One store in Vigo Street, central London, was occupied by protesters at 12pm on Saturday and then temporarily closed. Dozens of activists chanted and waved placards and banners outside, shutting off the street to traffic under the gaze of the police.

The store was transformed into a domestic violence refuge as the protest sought to highlight the "disproportionate" effect that the coalition's cuts to the public sector are having on women.

Lisa Stewart, a 30-year-old UK Uncut activist, said: "Women are bearing the brunt of these cuts, and if they (the Government) made tax-dodgers like Starbucks pay that would bring in £25 billion a year. Think of all the spending cuts that we could cover with that. Today we are standing up for the women's services we refuse to see destroyed."

Anna Walker, an activist who took part in a sit-in at a Starbucks in Conduit Street, central London, said: "We demand that the Government takes urgent radical action on tax avoidance, rather than cutting the welfare state, childcare benefits, maternity benefits and housing benefits while dismantling the NHS. These cuts are having a massive, devastating impact on women's lives today."

[NAB]

Looks like Ontario has a good share of business/corporate deadbeats too.. and cannot handle the workload due to implementation of the HST


Ontario to write off at least $1.4B

by The Canadian Press - Story: 84469
Dec 12, 2012 / 10:43 am

Ontario's cash-strapped government plans to write off at least $1.4 billion in unpaid taxes because it failed to act promptly and lacked the manpower to collect them, auditor general Jim McCarter found in his annual report.

The province, which is facing a $14.4-billion deficit, is owed about $2.4 billion in taxes, mostly from businesses, the report found. But it isn't doing enough to collect them.

About three-quarters of Ontario's tax collectors were transferred to the federal tax agency after the governing Liberals brought in the harmonized sales tax in July, 2010. At the time, the Liberals boasted that the move would reduce their spending by taking public servants off their payroll.

But it also hindered the province's ability to collect billions in back taxes, with some collectors seeing their workload double or even triple.

It took collectors an average of seven months to even attempt to contact a taxpayer by phone, and in two-thirds of cases there was at least one six-month gap where no action was taken, the auditor found. Field visits weren't made, and liens and warrants for the seizure and sale of properties weren't enforced.

"Taking prompt action is vital to collecting debts," McCarter said in a release. "Research shows that the probability of collecting money that's owed drops dramatically as time passes."

The $1.4 billion is mainly made up of older accounts that have accumulated over years, the report said.