Starbucks should pay proper tax Coffee chain Starbucks has agreed to pay more UK corporation tax, after a public outcry over how little it pays. Kris Engskov, managing director of Starbucks UK, announced that the company would pay "a significant amount of tax during 2013 and 2014, regardless of whether the company is profitable during these years." Talking to Today presenter Evan Davis John Redwood, Conservative MP for Wokingham, explained that an individual country cannot stop tax competition: "The only thing it can do is compete more successfully." Prem Sikka, a professor of accountancy at Essex University, said that "we need to get Starbucks to pay proper tax." "It can't be just private sweetheart deal with HMRC," she added.