Six UK water firms paying zero tax

'British water companies are evading millions of pounds in tax by the fraudulent method of getting loans from their owners abroad and listing themselves as under debt.

Following a public outcry over billions of pounds of corporate tax avoidance in Britain, involving names such as Google and Starbucks, research group Corporate Watch said that six British water companies have taken out high-interest loans from their owners through the Channel Islands stock exchange so that they could dodge tax using a legal loophole that reduces taxable profits in proportion to interest payments abroad.

That means their owners get fully untaxed profits from Britain by pretending that their subsidiaries in the country are under debt.'