In article , The Natural Philosopher
writes
On 11/12/2018 23:51, Bob Eager wrote:
On Tue, 11 Dec 2018 18:54:38 +0000, The Natural Philosopher wrote:

On 11/12/2018 18:12, Bill Wright wrote:
A piano dealer interviewed on Calendar has just said that if/when we
leave the Common Market pianos will be much more expensive because for
one thing there will be VAT on them.
Is he daft or is he lying?

Bill
probaly both.

If we leave what VAT we levy is up to the UK government.
Not the WTO?

No, Not the WTO.

WTO is concerned with customs duties and import tarriffs. Internal
sales taxes are *ultra vires*. Unless it could be shown that they were
in effect being used as import tarriffs. E.g. a special VAT class of
300% on *German* cars.

LOL!

VAT replaced purchase tax as part of our entry into the common market.
It was in my mind the first instance of replacing something that worked
purely because the EEC said so.

"In the United Kingdom, the value-added tax[1] (or value added tax,[2]
VAT) was introduced in 1973 and is the third-largest source of
government revenue, after income tax and National Insurance. It is
administered and collected by HM Revenue and Customs, primarily through
the Value Added Tax Act 1994.

VAT is levied on most goods and services provided by registered
businesses in the UK and some goods and services imported from outside
the European Union.[3] *There are complex regulations for goods and
services imported from within the EU*. The default VAT rate is the
standard rate, 20% since 4 January 2011. Some goods and services are
subject to VAT at a reduced rate of 5% (such as domestic fuel) or 0%
(such as most food and children's clothing).[4] Others are exempt from
VAT or outside the system altogether.

*Under EU law*, the standard rate of VAT in any EU state *cannot be
lower than 15%*.[5][6] Each state may have up to two reduced rates of
at least 5% for a restricted list of goods and services.[6] *The
European Council must approve any temporary reduction of VAT in the
public interest*.[5]

VAT is an indirect tax because the tax is paid to the government by the
seller (the business) rather than the person who ultimately bears the
economic burden of the tax (the consumer).[5] Opponents of VAT claim it
is a regressive tax because the poorest people spend a higher
proportion of their disposable income on VAT than the richest
people.[7] Those in favour of VAT claim it is progressive as consumers
who spend more pay more VAT."

(wiki)

So the EU involvement in VAT is MASSIVE.

Brexited Britain could really benefit the lower incomes by reducing VAT
on a lot of essentials like food and clothing and indeed road fuel and
increasing it on luxury goods like cars and I phones. If te £350m a
week wasnt enough to pay for it.




They could also call it Purchase Tax :-)
--
bert