article_snippet.sent: Taxpayers are having to find £11billion a year to top up the wages of millions of people working in supermarkets and other low paid jobs.
article_snippet.sent: The money, which amounts to a massive public subsidy for the companies involved, is paid to some 5.2million workers in the form of tax credits and other benefits.
article_snippet.sent: The total amount of benefits paid to staff at some companies exceeds what the firms pay in corporation tax, according to the study by Citizens UK.
article_snippet.sent: Critics have accused supermarkets of relying on benefits to ensure Critics staff earn enough to put food on the table without Critics having to raise wages .
article_snippet.sent: ‘The public subsidy enables profitable businesses to get away with paying low wages.
article_snippet.sent: Other firms who rely on the taxpayer to top up staff wages include Amazon, fast food outlets and local authorities, where cleaning and care workers, for example, are already paid by the taxpayer.
article_snippet.sent: Paul Regan, chairman of Citizens UK, said: ‘The major retailers post profits and pay tax, but the Treasury has to step in and often pays out more than the Treasury gets in to help those workers for whom work does not pay.
article_snippet.sent: The huge profits made by some of these high street names are made off the back of poverty-wages.
article_snippet.sent: In some instances the amount of tax they pay doesn’t even cover the wage top-ups we all have to chip-in and help with through the Treasury.
highlights_snippet.sent: Campaigners claim benefits paid to staff are higher than corporation taxes .
  
highlights_snippet.sent: Critics say handouts allows companies to get away with paying low wages .
  