Tax protest to hijack Starbucks outlets

Dozens of UK Starbucks branches will be turned into creches, refuges and homeless shelters, as direct action group UK Uncut hijacks the coffee outlets to highlight the chain's tax avoidance tactics.

The action was announced to coincide with yesterday's scheduled grilling of a top Starbucks executive by the House of Commons' public accounts committee over the firm's tax obligations. The company paid no corporation tax in the UK during the past three years, despite senior management in the United States trumpeting the company's profits in Britain.

Controversy erupted over the taxes paid by multinationals in Britain after an investigation by Reuters last month revealed the world's biggest coffee chain paid only £8.6 million (HK$105.98 million) in UK tax over the past 13 years, during which it recorded sales of £3.1 billion.

In addition to Starbucks' chief financial officer, Troy Alstead, MPs will also question management representatives from Google and Amazon, which have also faced criticism for basing their European operations in countries with lower tax rates, such as Ireland and Luxembourg.

In a similar session last week, MPs accused HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) officials of having cosy relationships with big businesses. Speaking about the arrangements with Starbucks, the Conservative MP Richard Bacon said: "It smells and it doesn't smell of coffee. It smells bad."

UK Uncut will start targeting Starbucks on December 8, the week Chancellor George Osborne delivers his autumn statement. The campaign group wants to draw a link between government cuts, in particular those affecting women, and tax avoidance by multinational firms.