The chancellor, George Osborne, and the chief secretary to the Treasury, Danny Alexander, on a new government crackdown ITN

A senior minister has ruled out the naming and shaming of companies that are paying little or no corporation tax.

Danny Alexander, chief secretary to the Treasury, said such a move was not a good idea because it would breach taxpayer confidentiality.

The minister made his comments as a panel of MPs released a hard-hitting report in which Amazon, Google and Starbucks are accused of an "immoral" use of secretive jurisdictions, royalties and complex company structures to avoid paying tax on British profits.

The Commons public accounts committee (PAC), the parliamentary spending watchdog, also criticises HM Revenue & Customs for being "way too lenient" in negotiations with corporations that pay little or no corporation tax. It calls on the government to draw up laws to close loopholes and name and shame companies that fail to pay their fair share.

Margaret Hodge, the chair of the PAC, said its report showed that global corporations with huge operations in the UK had been allowed to get away with "ripping off" taxpayers because of a weak tax authority, poor legislation and a lack of international co-operation.

Corporation tax revenues had fallen at a time when securing proper income from taxes was more vital than ever, she said.

"The inescapable conclusion is that multinationals are using structures and exploiting current tax legislation to move offshore profits that are clearly generated from economic activity in the UK."

Hodge told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme that corporation tax was in danger of "becoming a voluntary tax", and expressed concern that HMRC had yet to "get a grip".

George Osborne will on Monday announce an extra £77m a year for two years to fund more HMRC staff to pursue companies that avoid paying tax.

Hodge welcomed the announcement but said HMRC needed to "get tougher", such as naming and shaming firms, taking more cases to court and exploiting its buying power by refusing to purchase from companies that did not pay full corporation tax.

Hodge said that while the committee had named and shamed, as had investigative journalism, the tax authorities had not. "That's not what the tax authorities are doing and the tax authorities do it if you have a welfare benefit scrounger."

Alexander opposed the idea of naming and shaming as he insisted that firms that had broken the law would have their conduct publicised anyway.

"I'm not sure that naming and shaming is a very good idea by the tax authorities. I think taxpayer confidentiality is a very important part of our tax system," he told Today. "What we do is we take them to court when they are fraudulently claiming the wrong benefits. We take tax evaders to court. Part of the reinvestment we made in HRMC in 2010 was to quadruple the number of court cases HMRC takes and those people get named and shamed.

"When benefit claimants are found guilty of breaking the law they are named and shamed. When taxpayers are found guilty of breaking the law they are name and shamed, too. But, I think, on tax avoidance, we are regularly taking people to talk, we are regularly scrutinising schemes."

Alexander said the extra money being announced for HMRC would ensure specialist investigators could "get under the skin" of multinational firms and raise an extra £2bn in tax by the end of this parliament, on top of the extra £7bn the Treasury expected to raise as a result of additional resources put in place in 2010.

The government would also be introducing a general anti-abuse rule, to start next year, "that will put the taxman for the first time one step ahead of the tax avoiders, rather than one step behind", Alexander said.

He stressed the importance of the strengthening of international tax laws to deal with companies dodging tax, and said the UK would make it a "top priority" during its presidency of the G20 and G8 next year.

The report's scheduled release, following a humiliating parliamentary session for the three multinationals' executives, prompted a flurry of media activity over the weekend. On Saturday night, Starbucks announced it was reviewing its tax approach to Britain with a view to paying more following widespread criticism.

Alexander highlighted the power of consumer pressure on companies as he welcomed fact that Starbucks now wanted to approach the Treasury and HMRC to talk about its affairs.

"They've reported that they've had lots of pressures from their customers and that's a good thing. It's good that the public exercises their rights there. But what we can do as a government is put more resources at the disposal of HMRC to make sure they have the ability to get under the skin of what it is that companies, and rich individuals too, are doing in the tax system."

Hodge said she had been boycotting Starbucks, Amazon and Google since the revelations emerged.

"No, I don't now [go to Starbucks]. I've stopped my Amazon. I've completely stopped my Amazon – I'm a Kindle fanatic so that's been a bit of a difficult one. Google I find more difficult."

Alexander was also pressed on his personal consumer choices. Over the weekend, the minister told the Guardian he had been boycotting Starbucks. "I might be able to buy a coffee from Starbucks again soon."

But by Monday, he said he was a tea drinker.

"I'm a tea drinker so I don't tend to go to Starbucks," he told Today. "I do use Amazon from time to time – or I have."