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Commentators discuss the merits of the UK Uncut protests against companies avoiding paying tax.

[subscription required] that in terms of firms' vulnerability, picketing branches is not the biggest worry:

"This Saturday's protest may lose Sir Philip some sales. But it is unlikely that campaigners will be able to rally enough protesters to brave the cold on future occasions to cause a lasting problem.
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"A bigger concern is that the campaign could attract the attention of the sort of hacktivists that have disrupted the websites of MasterCard, PayPal and Amazon. Cyber security experts report a surge in calls from companies worried about their defences against such attacks. The greatest threat would be if campaigners on this or other issues could persuade large numbers of people to take their business away from the targeted companies."

The the Great Tax Heist, adding Boots, Brit Insurance and Cadbury to Vodafone and Topshop as brands avoiding UK tax:

"While the Coalition Government is forced to slash spending on public services - not to mention raise the ceiling on student tuition fees - private companies contrive to cut the tax they hand to the Exchequer.
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"The strategies companies use to avoid tax are no doubt quite legal. But there is a widespread feeling that while most hard-working taxpayers have a considerable portion of their income removed by PAYE, there is something immoral about businesses that can employ expensive accountants to find increasingly complicated ways of paying less tax...
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"So the shameless strategy of tax avoidance continues in the world of big business, and the losers are the millions of hard-pressed taxpayers who are left to take up the slack."

business:

"[W]hatever our personal feelings about sneaky accountants and overpaid executives, it's worth remembering that we do actually want to have as many big businesses in this country as possible. They employ many of us, usually on favourable terms and conditions. Even if they try to pay as little corporation tax as possible, they produce a lot of other revenues, such as National Insurance and VAT. They buy products from British suppliers and employ local contractors. Small businesses may be the engine for economic growth, but they often rely on big businesses to keep them running."

The the protests pose a direct challenge to the coalition:

"George Osborne has long calculated that the public would prefer eye-watering spending cuts over big rises in tax; which is why, in the coming fiscal consolidation, public spending will be reduced by Β£4 for every Β£1 put on tax. That political calculation may have appeared convincing six months ago; it looks less so now. Last week the government was jolted into bringing forward its plans for a general anti-avoidance principle, which could mean companies running their tax avoidance plans by HMRC before charging ahead."

that the answer to tax avoidance is to lower taxes:

"The lesson from history is that everyone in work gains when taxes are lowered. In fact, even government revenues can increase because the wealthy no longer move overseas or resort to clever accountancy stratagems to avoid paying punitive bills. This relationship between bigger government revenues and falling tax rates is known as 'the Laffer Curve', named after the brilliant US economist Arthur Laffer who was an adviser to President Reagan in the Eighties, when America boomed thanks partly to an aggressive policy of tax cuts."

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