It's not obvious that the Mail has understood Corporation Tax

We're not quite sure whether to be amused here at the lack of knowledge or to beat our heads on the keyboard at the, err, lack of knowledge. For the Daily Mail has decided to give us a listing of companies not paying what they think is the correct amount of corporation tax.

They start by getting one thing right: 

All retailers are supposed to pay corporation tax — a levy on company profits, currently at a rate of 20 per cent but falling to 19 per cent next month. 

It is, as they say, a levy upon profits. We might want to add the tiny detail that it's upon cumulative profits but it is still a tax upon profits. At which point they have a go at Vodafone and EE:

Vodafone

Corporation tax: Nil

It’s because Vodafone handed over exorbitant sums to the Blair government for 3G licences, and set aside those costs and other investments against its earnings here.
 

EE

Corporation tax: Nil

But even though it registered big sales and profits in 2015, it wasn’t liable for corporation tax because, like Vodafone, it has carried forward costs from the £8 billion it invested in 3G back in 2000.

That is, neither firm has been paying corporation tax because they haven't been making any profits. The reason they've not been making profits is because they've already given all of the money to the government anyway.

In these days when we're all being told that we must be vigilant against the threat of fake news we can't help but feel that the legacy media might up their game a bit.