Not sure how much taxes are paid from start to finnish and it would be very difficult to work out because coffee is grown in many different countries.
But the reason why what starbucks is doing is wrong is Costas also have start to finnish costs and taxes. But they pay taxes on their income here unlike starbucks.

The two companies are almost identical in what they sell, how they sell and where they sell, company the size  and structure and every other way you can compare two companies. Assuming StarBucks has a right or even an obligation on behalf of it's shareholders not to pay tax is to assume what costos is doing by paying tax is wrong and costas should be punished for it. If StarBucks is right should the Costas be closed down, should its managers be sued by the shareholders for giving away their dividens to the inland revenue?

Even though it is very hard to calculate how much tax is paid from start to finnish.
What is easy to calculate is how much Starbucks pays to the farmers that grow their coffee.
And they pay next to nothing. Because next to nothing of starbucks coffee is fairtrade, while 100% of costas coffee is fair trade.

Last edited by abdullahcohn (Thu 10 Jan 13 8:07pm)

I used to look for Illy when we traveled overseas because it was a good value for the cost.  Here, it is much more expensive.  The best coffee we had was in Indonesia.  Nothing can compare, but some of the coffee I have had in a few choice places comes close.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8WvAkhW-XNI