The post you are reporting:
According to today's Mail:
" £1 billionTax dodge by water profiteers: as your bills soar, seven of the UK's foreign owned firms pay peanuts in tax A dossier of shame compiled by Tory backbencher Charlie Elphicke reveals nine water companies have racked up operating profits totalling £10billion since 2010 but paid just £541million in tax.
Britain's privatised water firms have 'abused' loopholes in the law to dodge more than £1billion in tax since the election.
This equates to a tax rate of just 5.3 per cent. Corporation tax on operating profit is normally 23 per cent.
Down the drain: The Treasury has missed out on £1billion in tax from utility firms, it has been claimed
At the same time, two of the country's biggest energy firms, also foreign-owned, made combined profits of £1.7billion but paid no tax at all.
Meanwhile soaring utility bills have left millions feeling the pinch. Average water bills have gone up by 14.5 per cent, while electricity bills have soared by 24.8 per cent and gas bills by 33.9 per cent.
The average family has seen its annual utility bills rise by £384.
The revelations are embarrassing for David Cameron who has pledged to clamp down on tax avoidance by multinationals.
The details were revealed to the Commons by Tory MP Charlie Elphicke, a tax lawyer, who called on ministers to force water and power firms to cut their bills if they continued to avoid paying tax.
There is no suggestion that the firms involved have broken the law, and they all deny wrongdoing. But Mr Elphicke said the scale of the tax avoidance was staggering.
'Foreign-owned utility companies, particularly in the water industry, have been engaging in tax schemes using debt interest to avoid tax, which on my calculation over the last three years indicates that the Exchequer has lost £1billion,' he said.
He went on: 'They should either be subject to a windfall tax or reduce customers' bills.'
Well done Charlie.
Roger