Hang on: In England sales tax - VAT - is a tax paid by the customer (although collected by the business). That is not Starbucks paying the tax, that's me as a customer paying the tax.
Similarly for income taxes - I pay those as an employee although it is collected by the company.
The company makes use of the UK infrastructure (roads; policing; education; etc) so they should consider paying a bit more tax.
It's worse where a company charges the customer full UK VAT at 20% but pays a lower rate to some other country. (Not sure if this does actually happen, but I've heard it does. And I'm not sure if it's an intended part of the laws or a loophole.)
At the end of the day, it doesn't matter if you or Starbucks wrote the UK government the tax check. None of Starbucks' money started with them, it all starts with the UK consumer. Without Starbucks the entity, £0 gets paid to the UK government for both VAT and payroll tax. With Starbucks the entity, a lot of money gets paid to the UK government. As a result, Starbucks generates a lot of tax revenue within the UK, regardless of whose name is on the check.
Similarly for income taxes - I pay those as an employee although it is collected by the company.
The company makes use of the UK infrastructure (roads; policing; education; etc) so they should consider paying a bit more tax.
It's worse where a company charges the customer full UK VAT at 20% but pays a lower rate to some other country. (Not sure if this does actually happen, but I've heard it does. And I'm not sure if it's an intended part of the laws or a loophole.)