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Shameless energy firm npower raked in £766million of profit over the past three years but did not pay a penny in corporation tax, it was revealed today.

The company has been slammed for going down the same path as coffee chain Starbucks.

A Commons inquiry heard yesterday that all the other Big Six energy firms had paid corporation tax – though three of them coughed up “significantly less” than should be expected.

Brazen npower chief Paul Massara told MPs on the Commons Energy Select committee that there was “nothing amazing” about his firm not paying the tax, which is a levy on profits.

He said none was owed because profits were down and the firm had built a power plant – a £5billion investment that could be written off against the levy.

He said: “That is a simple accounting UK rule. There is no mystery to it. There is no desire to not pay tax.

“We have fully paid all our taxes – substantial employment tax, business tax and other taxes.”

Furious Labour MP John Robertson responded by saying: “This is the Starbucks argument, isn’t it? It is basically, ‘I’m employing people so I won’t pay tax’. Do you understand how the public feel about this? How angry they are?

“Anyone watching these proceedings will be absolutely shocked at your ability to stand up and say we deserve not to pay tax.”

He also told the npower chief: “People don’t like you because they feel you rip them off.”

German-owned npower’s lack of payments was exposed after Shadow Energy Secretary Caroline Flint wrote to all the energy companies to ask what they paid in corporation tax and sent the figures to the committee.

Labour said the figures, which were not disclosed at the hearing, showed E.ON, EDF and Scottish Power had also coughed up less corporation tax than was fair.

During today’s grilling of energy firm bosses, Labour MP Ian Lavery said it was a “disgrace” that the companies paid “significantly less effective tax rates than should be expected”.

E.ON and ScottishPower told MPs their corporation tax bills had been brought down by investments, while EDF boss Jim Poole said his firm had given “the right amount”.

Starbucks, which paid no corporation tax here for three years, was shamed in December into coughing up.

Prime Minister David Cameron's official spokesman said: "The Prime Minister's view is that it is important that companies pay the tax that is due."

Npower

Chief executive Paul Massara.

Pay: Not disclosed

Profit: £766m between 2009 and 2011

Corporation tax: zero

SSE

Chief executive: Ian Marchant

Pay 2011: £1.2m

Profit: £3.93billion between 2009 and 2011.

Corporation tax: £682m between 2009 and 2011.

Centrica

Chief executive: Sam Laidlaw

Paid last year: £5m

Profit: £6.3billion between 2009 and 2011.

Corporation tax: £1.56billion between 2009 amd 2011.

E.ON

Chief executive: Tony Cocker

Salary: Not disclosed.

Profit: £4.97billion between 2007 (corr) and 2011

Corporation tax: £532million

EDF

Chief executive: Vincent de Rivaz

Salary: Not disclosed

Profit: £4.8billion between 2010 and 2012 (corr).

Corporation tax: Only given as “over £200m” in 2012 and 2011.

Scottish Power

Retail chief executive: Neil Clitheroe

Salary: Not disclosed.

Profit: £5.1billion between 2009 and 2012.

Corporation tax: £771million between 2009 and 2012.

Find the best energy deal for your home with Money Expert.

Storm over npower tax is a Thatcher legacy: Comment by Mirror business editor Graham Hiscott

It is ironic that the storm over npower’s corporation tax payments has blown up on the eve of Baroness Thatcher’s funeral.

Of all Margaret Thatcher’s reforms, privatisation of Britain’s energy sector was one of her biggest. It began with British Gas in 1986, with the electricity market following. Today, six suppliers control more than 99% of the market and four are in foreign hands.

Yet npower is simply exploiting the rules. We need energy firms to invest billions of pounds building power plants to keep the lights on and, for that, they get tax breaks.

What’s more of an issue is the secretive way foreign-owned energy companies are allowed to operate.

The Government must close the legal loopholes on tax so all firms, big and small, pay their fair share.

Update

npower chief Paul Massara has responded to the damaging headlines in a blog post entitled Talking Tax - a message from Paul Massara

In it, he states that the company has "nothing to hide".

"We’ve invested billions of pounds in the UK, which means our corporation tax bill was reduced by HMRC", he said.

Meanwhile campaigning community 38 Degrees has launched an online petition to Paul Massara urging him to "Stop using accounting tricks to dodge paying your fair share of tax in the UK".

So far the petition has gathered more than 21,000 signatures.