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McDonald's declines Olympic tax break

July 18, 2012

London's Olympic Games sponsors headquartered outside of the United Kingdom are eligible for a tax exemption, but McDonald's has declined the benefit.

According to the Guardian, the Chicago-based chain's decision comes after an online campaign was created by 38 Degrees putting pressure on sponsors to take the tax break. A story published in Ethical Consumer magazine facilitated the effort.

Other non-UK sponsors, including Visa and Coca-Cola, haven't responded to the requests.

The issue stems from London's new rules put into place that offer sponsor companies the ability to forego taxes on all of their earnings from the Olympics. McDonald's stated that the exemption would be minimal, predicting revenue from the Games to be less than 0.1 percent of its annual sales in the UK.

McDonald's statement read: "We will not be making any corporate income tax exemption claim with respect to any activity concerning our involvement with the London Olympic and Paralympic Games."

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