BBC News

[VectraMan]

"Starbucks made sales of nearly £400m last year, but paid zero corporation tax even though the standard rate is 24%".

You couldn't make this stuff up. How do the BBC get away with misleading the nation like this?

[BrilloPad]

How much did they pay for the brand to that offshore company?

[eek]

"Starbucks made sales of nearly £400m last year, but paid zero corporation tax even though the standard rate is 24%".

You couldn't make this stuff up. How do the BBC get away with misleading the nation like this?

Because the general public are either too thick to understand the difference between sales and profit or clever enough to know the average bbc report is written for a clueless 10 year old.

[d000hg]

It's not misleading to report that huge companies are paying nearly no tax in the UK. Which part are you angry about, the exact figures or the fact they claim they pay "no tax" rather than "no UK tax" or the turnover/profit issue?

[BrilloPad]

It's not misleading to report that huge companies are paying nearly no tax in the UK. Which part are you angry about, the exact figures or the fact they claim they pay "no tax" rather than "no UK tax" or the turnover/profit issue?

Do you think any company should pay tax based on its sales?

[d000hg]

Do you think any company should pay tax based on its sales?

Apart from sales tax?

They can't easily say what profit they made since legally, they made no profit.

[BrilloPad]

Apart from sales tax?

They can't easily say what profit they made since legally, they made no profit.

Fair enough - I should have said corporation tax.

For me its a question of how much brand royalties they pay offshore. The rent on those coffee shops is horrific - I read once that for the best city sites they would have to sell a cup of coffee every 45 seconds to break even.

[VectraMan]

It's not misleading to report that huge companies are paying nearly no tax in the UK. Which part are you angry about, the exact figures or the fact they claim they pay "no tax" rather than "no UK tax" or the turnover/profit issue?

Clearly the implication is that they're meant to pay 24% of sales as corporation tax, which is completely untrue. What they should have said is that Starbucks organise their business in a way that means they make no UK profit and therefore pay no UK corporation tax, which is something that needs to be looked at (although I don't believe there's an answer). That would have been good, informative reporting of the story. But no, they have to lead with misinformation.

[LatteLiberal]

"Starbucks made sales of nearly £400m last year, but paid zero corporation tax even though the standard rate is 24%".

You couldn't make this stuff up. How do the BBC get away with misleading the nation like this?

What is wrong with their statement? Are we to believe that companies are making such large sales but no profit year after year? Yes sales aren't taxed but it is an insult to the intelligence for the large corporations to say they just aren't making profit or at least not concealing it using accountant tricks.

[Old Hack]

What is wrong with their statement? Are we to believe that companies are making such large sales but no profit year after year? Yes sales aren't taxed but it is an insult to the intelligence for the large corporations to say they just aren't making profit or at least not concealing it using accountant tricks.

It's the inference they avoided paying 24% of £400m in taxes.

HTH BIDI