The Truth About the Pasty Tax: Yup, it’s the EU
MUCH fun and games as Georgie Osborne has to defend his pasty tax. As one wag has pointed out whether a pasty which has cooled to 21 oC needs to pay the tax will depend upon whther the ambient temperature is 22 o or 19 o.
However, there is a real reason that he’s changed these rules. Fully described here but in essence it’s the EU again.
As we all may or may not know hot takeaway food pays VAT, cold doesn’t. Until just recently no one was very worried about those things that may or may not be hot: as long as we were getting the VAT on the fish and chips and not on the salads we were fine.
However, a German VAT case has meant that the highest court (and yes, the EU court is the highest court when it comes to VAT) has said that you cannot slice and dice within a category. Either all hot takeaway food pays VAT or none does. And no, we’re not allowed to say that pasties which are cooling, or which can be eaten hot or cold, are different, a special case.
So, given the all or nothing Osborne has gone for the all option.
The thing that does piss me off about this is that Parliament, our MPs, you know, the people we pay to do and know this stuff for us, they don’t. It’s left to those of us scribbling on the internet to work it out.
Posted: 28th, March 2012 | In: Money Comment | TrackBack | Permalink
