I am boycotting............

[kickit]

And there are many, many examples of individuals AND corporations avoiding tax, which are legal. One of my clients is a major player in their field, and has a number of senior executives in the UK who are American. They've been here for years and years, and will probably stay for years to come, but all these senior people have applied for - and been granted - British Citizenship. They don't need it, necessarily, but it's not only an issue about getting visas to stay and work in the UK, it's also more tax effective for them to be "British".

[DiscoDes]

There are good points above for both sides of the argument but for me personally and my own personal moral code means I feel no matter how insignificant the effect to those companies I will feel better taking a stance. I do beleive that enough people feel this way and am confident that there will be a change in stance amongst these companies, no matter how small.

Therefore I shall be buying books Pick a Book a Gloucestershire based company that has prices similar to Amazon and free delivery if you spend over £10

Starbucks - easy to avoid.

Google - as stated above you cannot as a internet user stop using but I can limit their revenue from me by using an ad-blocker. I have a Google Nexus, and will resist buying anything for it from Google - once my free credit has run out!

[kickit]

Actually, you pretty much CAN avoid using Google. Other internet search engines are available :-)

[Roger]

On this page alone, according to Ghostery, Google Analytics is trying to spy on me and you.

[booblay]

Liking what you're saying, Des, but if you were to boycott companies that were morally reprehensible, you'd start running out of places to buy things from.

What really gets my goat is Nestle. They're evil and awful and I've been boycotting them for years, but they're responsible for Cinnamon Grahams, damn them, and I'm close to cracking.

[Gordy]

mmmmmmmmm Cinnamon Grahams

[beautycat]

Tesco do their own version of cinnamon Graham's and they are nearly as nice and kits cheaper

[FirinBlanks]

Graham Crackers?

Get the flavour instead

[alvoram]

Nov 16, 2012 0:20:14 GMT Gordy said:

surely those that buy things abroad and then not declare import tax are just as bad hhhhmmmmm

Thumbs up...

Anyone willing to 'illegally' avoid import duty, yet boycott companies 'legally' paying reduced, or no, taxes is guilty of double standards, and being a hypocrite in my book. Scale has nothing to do with it!

Money talks, I'll go where it's cheapest, so amazon is in, google is in, china imports are in, strabucks is definitely out (except for the odd treat )

[alanfinal]

I say we form a circle and sing Cat Stevens songs,that will stop those greedy corporate b******s

[booblay]

Nov 16, 2012 21:16:02 GMT beautycat said:

Tesco do their own version of cinnamon Graham's and they are nearly as nice and kits cheaper

Tesco are also evil. But probs less evil than Nestle (it wouldn't be hard after what they did), so I'll keep my eyes out for the Grahams, thanks for the heads up.

[alvoram]

Nov 20, 2012 15:30:44 GMT booblay said:

Nov 16, 2012 21:16:02 GMT beautycat said:

Tesco do their own version of cinnamon Graham's and they are nearly as nice and kits cheaper

Tesco are also evil. But probs less evil than Nestle (it wouldn't be hard after what they did), so I'll keep my eyes out for the Grahams, thanks for the heads up.

Nestle probably make tesco's variant, albeit with a slightly different process

[domesticextremist]

Nov 20, 2012 13:15:46 GMT alvoram said:

Nov 16, 2012 0:20:14 GMT Gordy said:

surely those that buy things abroad and then not declare import tax are just as bad hhhhmmmmm

Thumbs up...

Anyone willing to 'illegally' avoid import duty, yet boycott companies 'legally' paying reduced, or no, taxes is guilty of double standards, and being a hypocrite in my book. Scale has nothing to do with it!

Money talks, I'll go where it's cheapest, so amazon is in, google is in, china imports are in, strabucks is definitely out (except for the odd treat )

In absolute terms you are right, but in relative terms we are talking
about a difference between a few hundred quid (say, for a group buy,
which you aren't guaranteed to escape) versus hundreds of milliions.
i.e. 5 or 6 orders of magnitude difference.

Part of the reason these large multinationals can undercut and ultimately
bankrupt local small businesses is the competitive advantage they get from
large scale tax avoidance. So whilst cheap is good, it has a wider cost in
terms of local business and industry.

At thee end of the day we need to have a bit more grown up attitude about tax.
Nobody likes paying it, but we all like the kind of civilized society we live in and
that costs money. Moreover, every penny of revenue avoided by these
companies is another penny that needs to be raised from somebody else
(usually you and I).

Sadly, successive governments have either encouraged their behaviour and/or
have dragged their feet about changing the rules to eliminate it. It's up to us
therefore to do something about it - both by nagging our lawmakers and boycotting
the most rapacious offenders.

I'd much rather see those we elect (and pay) to represent us occupy their time
and energy bringing these folks to book than dreaming up ever more pettifogging
rules and regulations to inflict on the general public - such as new rules for
tobacco display or medicalisation of e-cigarettes, wouldn't you?

[skipraider]

Nov 20, 2012 15:19:08 GMT alanfinal said:

I say we form a circle and sing Cat Stevens songs,that will stop those greedy corporate b******s

A bit of Woody Guthrie & Lennon wouldn't go amiss

[X&Y]

I had a package delivered yesterday from Shenzhen, on the Customs label it stated that the goods were electronics and the value was 12 USD.

I'd spent quite a bit more than that.

Didn't ask them to reduce the value down, they just did it.

Felt a bit naughty but then i remember the amounts of NI and Income Tax i pay every month and thought s*d it.

Was more annoyed that it took three weeks to deliver using Airmail >

You give with one hand and take with the other

Or some just take, take and take >