Thursday newspaper round-up: Vodafone, uncollected taxes, BP

Vodafone has been accused by India's tax authorities of creating an "artificial tax avoidance scheme" for its $11.2bn takeover of Hutchison-Essar in 2007. Speaking at the start of a hearing in India's Supreme Court over $2.5bn in taxes being disputed by the British company, the Solicitor-General claimed that the telecoms giant had "concealed the facts" in the case, the Times reports.Britain lost £35bn in uncollected taxes last year - the equivalent of 7.9% of the annual revenue, the Treasury has admitted. The so-called 'tax gap', which is the difference between the amount of tax due and the total collected, was reduced from 8.1% of revenues from the year before but critics argue that the figure is still too high, the Telegraph says.Tar balls that turned up on the US Gulf coast this month are linked to BP's oil spill last year, signalling that the area is still not fully cleaned up, a study has found. Researchers from Auburn University found the environmental impact of the spill is continuing 17 months since oil leaked into the ocean, after an explosion on the Deepwater Horizon, according to the Telegraph.Eric Schmidt, chairman of Google, denied that the search company "cooked" its search results to gain an advantage over rivals, as he fended off persistent questioning during a Senate hearing into how the search giant wields its online power. In the most public airing yet of the growing questions in Washington about Google's influence, Mr Schmidt on Tuesday calmly rebuffed suggestions that Google unfairly favoured its own services at the expense of companies that rely on attracting visitors from its search engine, says the Financial Times. The Halifax (owned by Lloyds Banking Group) is to offer savers the chance to win monthly cash prizes of up to £100,000 in a direct attack on Premium Bonds. Halifax - part of Lloyds Banking Group - will give away half a million each month from December with the promotion lasting for at least 12 months. Simon Kenyon, director of savings at the bank, denied the move is a gimmick. "We're trying to challenge the savings market," he said. While the promotion is new to the UK, it is common practice in the US and Australia, the Independent writes.The famous Scottish sweetmaker behind childhood favourites Highland Toffee and Wham bars has collapsed into administration, putting more than 100 jobs at risk. Although children have been ploughing their pocket money into Millar McCowan's famous sticks of toffee for generations, the company has a history of financial problems and confirmed on Wednesday that Grant Thornton had been appointed as administrators of the parent company, New McCowans, at the end of last week, the Guardian reports.Liberal Democrat David Laws warned that businesses and entrepreneurs may be put off locating in the UK if the 50p rate of income tax is permanent. The former Treasury minister also cautioned his senior Lib Dem colleagues against attacking their Conservative coalition partners, claiming they risked making policy concessions more difficult, the Daily Mail reports.---RG